Comments

  2. says

    About as long as the blog has existed, although there was a period in the middle where I had a snit and closed it for a while.

  7. says

    https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/01/03/infinite-thread-xxxiv/comment-page-10/#comment-2260287
    JM @148, thanks for the correction. Sorry I didn’t see that before. The link above leads back to the previous set of comments on The Infinite Thread. (That thread has two limits: One is time, which I think is one month, but I’m not sure. The other limit is number of comments, which is 500. Sometimes the time limit runs out first, and then PZ has to give the thread a new lease on life.)

    https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
    Donald Trump fired the man who likely saved his life: Former medical official
    Video is 10:36 minutes

    https://www.msnbc.com/all
    ‘Worst case scenario’ Chris Hayes says Trump is waterboarding the U.S. economy
    Video is 3:54 minutes long

  9. Audley Z Darkheart says

    Not great, honestly! Besides [gestures at everything] I went through treatments for colon cancer in 2023 and I’m still not fully recovered. So, yeah. :(

  10. says

    For the convenience of readers here are a few more links back to the previous set of comments on The Infinite Thread.

    https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/01/03/infinite-thread-xxxiv/comment-page-10/#comment-2260270
    Some government health employees who were laid off Tuesday were told to contact Anita Pinder with discrimination complaints. But Pinder, who was the director at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, died last year.

    https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/01/03/infinite-thread-xxxiv/comment-page-10/#comment-2260268
    Federal drug regulators have missed the deadline for making a key decision regarding a Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax, days after the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief was pushed out. The agency was set to give full approval to Novavax’s shot, but senior leaders at the agency are now sitting on the decision and have said the Novavax application needed more data and was unlikely to be approved soon […]

    https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/01/03/infinite-thread-xxxiv/comment-page-10/#comment-2260261 Borowitz Report

    https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/01/03/infinite-thread-xxxiv/comment-page-10/#comment-2260263
    Naval Academy Staff Removed Display on Female Jewish Graduates for Hegseth Visit

    https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/01/03/infinite-thread-xxxiv/comment-page-10/#comment-2260257
    How a 27-year-old codebreaker busted the myth of Bitcoin’s anonymity

  13. says

    Pentagon inspector general opens investigation into Hegseth, Signal chat scandal

    “The White House said this week the “case has been closed” on the Signal scandal. The Pentagon’s inspector general opened it back up.”

    A few days after the White House’s Signal chat scandal erupted, it became clear that Congress’ Republican majority would not launch any oversight investigations, but some key lawmakers voiced support for a different kind of probe.

    For example, the top two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Chairman Roger Wicker and Democratic Ranking Member Jack Reed, formally requested that the acting inspector general at the Department of Defense open an inquiry into the potential “use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know.”

    Soon after, Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and rejected the suggestion that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth needed to resign, but added that it’s “entirely appropriate” for the Pentagon’s inspector general to take a closer look.

    As it turns out, officials at the Department of Defense agreed. NBC News reported:

    The Pentagon Office of the Inspector General just announced a subject evaluation into allegations that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used an unclassified commercially available messaging app — Signal — to discuss classified information about military actions in Yemen. … In addition to looking at whether Hegseth complied rules governing classified information, the inspector general will also look at whether rules about record retention were followed.

    […] The final paragraph of Goldberg’s [The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg’s] piece read, “All along, members of the Signal group were aware of the need for secrecy and operations security. In his text detailing aspects of the forthcoming attack on Houthi targets, Hegseth wrote to the group — which, at the time, included me — ‘We are currently clean on OPSEC.’”

    “OPSEC” referred to “operations security.” In other words, the defense secretary was certain that he and his colleagues — while chatting on a free platform that has never been approved for chats about national security and classified intelligence — had locked everything down and created a secure channel of communications.

    […] put there by Hegseth himself.

    “1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package),” Hegseth told his colleagues in the chat. “1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME) — also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s).” At one point, the defense secretary literally wrote, “THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP.”

    All of this comes against a backdrop of other damaging headlines about the former Fox News personality, including reports this week that he gave an important Pentagon job to his unqualified younger brother and included his wife in meetings in which sensitive information was discussed, despite her lack of a security clearance. […]

  14. chigau (違う) says

    Audley, if it’s been that long, then everything has changed with me.
    I hope your recovery is proceeding.

  16. says

    JD Vance peddles a familiar (and false) claim about the Social Security hotline

    “It was a problem when Elon Musk pushed a bogus claim about the Social Security hotline. The vice president just made the problem worse.”

    […] Elon Musk, declared at a campaign event: “One interesting statistic was that 40% of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent, meaning that it was someone trying to get a Social Security payment that was going to a senior instead to go to a fraud ring.”

    This week, JD Vance made his latest Fox News appearance, and the vice president echoed the line. [Social media post and video are available at the main link.]

    Referring to Musk and the Department of Government Operation, [Vance] said: “You look at all of the fraudulent grants they found, you look at people who are 150 years old fraudulently collecting Social Security payments, you see our Social Security system, 40% of the people who are calling in are actually committing fraud. That means the 60% who need their Social Security checks are waiting in line.”

    For now, let’s put aside the fact that DOGE has not, in reality, uncovered a flood of fraudulent grants. Also, let’s not dwell on the fact that the claims about 150-year-old Social Security beneficiaries have already been discredited, as Vance really ought to know.

    Let’s instead focus on the idea that 40% of people calling into the Social Security hotline are fraudsters. Is that true? The New York Times published a fact-check report noting that the claim is rooted in a misunderstood statistic from the Social Security Administration.

    The agency recently estimated that 40 percent of direct deposit fraud, one specific type of fraud, occurred via calls to the agency. That is not the same thing as 40 percent of all telephone calls being fraudulent. [!] … It is unclear what percentage of calls are requests for information or forms and what percentage are requests for services that directly affect benefits. But there is no evidence that 40 percent of answered calls, or 20 million to 24 million annually, fraudulently reroute benefits.

    [Musk] has no real background in government or public policy, so it was easy to understand why he would peddle a bogus claim about a system he failed to understand.

    But Vance is a former senator and now an elected national officeholder. It’s hardly unreasonable to think he should know better.

    The larger question, though, is whether he does know better. Last fall, as Election Day approached, Vance lied about Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio. When he was pressed to explain why he said things that were untrue about a community in his own state, Vance said that he was willing “to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention.”

    All of which leaves us with a familiar question about the reality-challenged vice president: Was he simply wrong about the 40% claim, or was this an instance in which Vance was simply creating stories in pursuit of a political goal?

    I’ll go with the latter.

  17. says

    JFC. Befuddled fool speaks:

    […] “It’s such an old-fashioned term, but a beautiful term: groceries,” Trump said. “It says ‘a bag with different things in it.’”

    Last week, he said something similar, declaring at another White House event that “groceries” is “a beautiful word.”

    A day earlier, the president appeared on Newsmax and said, “I haven’t used the word ‘groceries.’ It’s like an old-fashioned word, but really it’s not. And people understand it.”

    Around the same time, at a White House Cabinet meeting, he again referred to “groceries” as “an old-fashioned word,” adding, “but it’s a very descriptive word.”

    This came on the heels of a pre-inaugural appearance on “Meet the Press,” in which Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker, “I won on groceries. Very simple word, groceries. Like almost — you know, who uses the word? I started using the word — the groceries.”

    Of course, Trump says all kinds of foolish things on a daily basis, and it’s probably best not to get too worked up about every random absurdity. But as the White House appears to be pushing the country closer to an easily avoidable recession and the president is setting your 401(k) on fire, that he considers “groceries” to be an exotic term doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

    Complicating matters, during the 2024 campaign, Trump assured voters that “grocery prices will come tumbling down” if he won a second term. […]

    Maybe Trump should just stop talking about old-fashioned bags with different things in them altogether?

    Link

  18. says

    Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen:

    * New York City Mayor Eric Adams was a Republican; then he was a Democrat; and now he’s running for a second term as an independent. Adams announced the partisan switch the day after the federal corruption charges against him were dismissed in court under highly controversial circumstances. [summarized from NBC News]

    * In New Hampshire, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas confirmed weeks of rumors and launched a U.S. Senate campaign. If elected, the congressman would be the first openly gay man to serve in the Senate. [summarized from NBC Boston]

    […] In Wisconsin, a Democratic-backed candidate in the race for state school superintendent also won this week. [summarized from The Hill]

    * One day after Republicans won two congressional special elections in Florida, Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine were sworn in to office, creating a new balance of power in the U.S. House: There are now 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats. [summarized from NBC News]

    * In Aurora, Illinois, the city’s incumbent mayor, Republican Richard Irvin, lost his re-election bid this week, coming up short against John Laesch, who enjoyed the support of several prominent Democratic leaders in the state. [summarized from webz.org]

    * In California, there’s still plenty of speculation about whether former Vice President Kamala Harris will run for governor next year, but in the meantime, Xavier Becerra isn’t waiting: The former health and human services secretary kicked off his statewide bid this week. [summarized from The New York Times]

    * And in Michigan, a high-profile state senator, Mallory McMorrow, launched a Democratic U.S. Senate campaign this week. The 38-year-old lawmaker is the first major candidate to jump into the race, though the Democratic primary is expected to be quite crowded. [summarized from NBC News]

  19. says

    As the CDC’s IVF team is gutted, Trump is haunted by ‘fertilization president’ claims

    “When it comes to IVF, the president is saying one thing while doing the opposite.”

    Related Rachel Maddow video is available at the link. It is a good one.

    It was just last week when the White House held an event to commemorate Women’s History Month, which included some curious remarks from Donald Trump.

    “We’re gonna have tremendous, tremendous goodies in the bag for women, too,” the president said, referring to his administration’s agenda. “The women, between the fertilization and all the other things we’re talking about, it’s gonna be great. Fertilization. I’m still very proud of it, I don’t care. I’ll be known as the fertilization president, and that’s OK, that’s not bad. I’ve been called much worse. Actually, I like it. I like it, right? Thank you.” [video of Trump speaking]

    […] the Trump administration just gutted its own IVF team. NBC News reported:

    A team that tracked how well in vitro fertilization worked across the U.S. was abruptly cut Tuesday as part of the sweeping layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services. The elimination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance team — a group of six epidemiologists, data analysts and researchers — shocked public health experts and IVF advocates.

    […] It doesn’t. Trump seems to realize that IVF enjoys broad public support, so he positioned himself with the American mainstream before Election Day. But now that he and his administration are engaged in policymaking, the president is saying one thing while doing the opposite.

    As for those who might’ve voted for Trump because they believed his rhetoric about IVF, I have some very bad news.

  20. birgerjohansson says

    (Waves to all of you)
    We have nice northern lights right now.

    But if they start being visible down south, it means a solar magnetic storm is about to fry your electric grid, so I hope you DON’T see them!
    (If you see them, it might also be a portent that something bad is happening in the US, so…damn! That got old fast)

  21. birgerjohansson says

    Meidas Touch podcast
    “FURIOUS World Leaders Destroy Trump on Trade War ”
    .https://youtube.com/watch?v=RTjzXoQrAjk

    The claim the tariffs are reciprocal is a LIE. South Korea does not have 50% tariffs on US imports. EU does not have 39% on US imports. 

    Instead, the administration make up the fictional tariffs by looking at trade going in one direction and the opposite direction.

    For Indonesia, that is 17 billion from US to there and 28 billion from Indonesia. Then they claimed Indonesia has a 60% tariff (see the first 3 minutes).
    It is made-up rubbish.

  22. says

    […] The disastrous tariffs that Trump proudly unveiled in the Rose Garden take a sledgehammer to the tentpoles of a U.S.-centered trade and financial system that accrued often invisible benefits to American consumers, businesses, diplomats, and war fighters. […]

    The damage will be so vast and foreseeable that it’s hard not to veer into wondering about Trump’s motives in unleashing this much destruction on his own country. But as with the simultaneous destruction of American science and medicine, research and development, and civic and governmental capacity, taking away things in order to extort more power, privilege, and baubles remains the best explanation for Trump’s rampage. There is no public good, only what is good for Trump.

    Link

    Chris Murphy:

    Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.

    No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.

    1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.

    https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:y77n77kdqzhbg647blkfypyr/post/3lluxkmx7wc2m
    More at the link.

  23. birgerjohansson says

    Kosta at The Daily Show.
    .
    “But in Trump’s defence…he lied!”

  25. birgerjohansson says

    Lynna, OM @ 22
    To understand Trump’s ambition, see the quote of Doctor Mabuse:
    “Die Herrschaft des Verbrechens!”
    This film came in 1932.

  26. says

    […] The newly released budget resolution indicates that the Republican leadership is plowing ahead with their plan to utilize an unprecedented “budget gimmick” to make portions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent.

    Republicans plan to make up their own numbers and cost estimates as a way of shoehorning in the “current policy baseline,” in order to zero out the nearly $4 trillion cost of their tax cuts and claim on paper that the extension will be costless, budget and tax experts told TPM.

    That math trick means Republicans may be able to avoid the reality of the huge offsets taxpayers will ultimately pay over time for the Trump tax cuts making it possible for them to bypass a Senate rule that guards against increases to the deficit in any year beyond the 10-year budget window.

    Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) called Senate Republicans’ attempt to fudge the numbers, “cheap, shameless, embarrassing.”

    “They’re engaged in trickery,” Warnock, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told TPM Wednesday afternoon. “If you’re busy trying to hide what you’re doing, deep down, you must know that you’re doing the wrong thing. Because if you really believe in it, you ought to own it.”

    […] Budget and tax experts told TPM, the math is simple. No matter what Republicans claim, the tax cuts will increase the deficit over the years and will not erase the impact it will have on the country’s economy.

    […] Warnock also reflected on the consequences of using what some Democrats are describing as “funny math.”

    “They are literally digging a hole for our children, exploding the debt. I think it would be foolish to do that. Period. But they’re doing it for … the noble cause of giving the wealthiest people in the country a tax break,” the Georgia senator told TPM sarcastically.

    While Trump’s 2017 tax cuts did lower taxes for the majority of Americans, they primarily benefited the wealthy — those making $400,000 or more a year.

    The Senate is expected to take the initial procedural vote on the budget resolution Thursday, with a vote-a-rama set to begin Friday afternoon. If everything goes as leadership plans, the Senate could pass the blueprint by early Saturday morning. The House will then take up the same text. […]

    The play on numbers that help Republicans claim that the tax cuts will not add to the country’s debt is also a calculated political move. If the numbers point to a no or small increase in the deficit, Republican leadership can pretend the deficit won’t grow as much as it will, helping them to ease the concerns of many of the hardliners in Congress. […]

    “You can play funny math with the scoring of a reconciliation, but you can’t play funny math with the debt ceiling,” Kaine [Sen. Tim Kaine] told TPM. “And so they would make their problem on the debt ceiling worse.”

    “There is a day of reckoning so they can run but they can’t hide.”

    Link

  27. says

    RFK Jr. fired veterinarians working on bird flu because he’s incompetent

    Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s purge of almost a quarter of the federal workforce under his control includes senior veterinarians who focus on response to bird flu outbreaks, according to sources that spoke with the Washington Post.

    The laid-off veterinarians, who worked under the Food and Drug Administration, included those who designed studies showing that pasteurized milk would kill the virus. This was particularly important as the bird flu rampaged through dairy herds last spring. Officials who oversaw efforts to protect Americans by recalling pet food that may have been contaminated by the avian disease also lost their jobs.

    […] “This is one of the dumbest things you could possibly do with your government, laying off the very people you need to combat one of the biggest problems affecting our food supply right now,” Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, told the Post.

    The news comes more than a month after the Department of Agriculture promised to rehire “several” employees they had “accidentally” let go, who had been involved in the avian flu outbreak response. […]

    Democrats in the House have launched a subcommittee to investigate Kennedy’s weak response to the bird flu outbreak, which has sent egg costs skyrocketing, threatening public health and impacting the farming industry. [Eggflation graph at the link]

    Kennedy’s first months as head of the HHS have been disastrous. His poor management of a historic measles outbreak, which began in Texas and quickly spread to New Mexico, has claimed a child’s life. New cases have now appeared in Kansas.

    At the same time he is firing thousands of qualified staff, Kennedy has found time to hire a discredited anti-vaccine activist, known for spreading false information about vaccines and autism treatments. […]

    Additionally, Kennedy’s stance against fluoride in water has had real-world consequences. More and more communities have been encouraged to remove fluoride from their water supply, increasing the risk of childhood tooth decay and disease.

    Kennedy’s qualifications made him uniquely unfit to lead our country’s public health into the modern age, and each day he continues to prove it.

    Embedded links to additional sources are available at the main link.

  28. Reginald Selkirk says

    Schrodinger’s Economics

    databasecowgirl writes:

    Commenting in The Times on the absurdity of Meta’s copyright infringement claims, Caitlin Moran defines Schrodinger’s economics: where a company is both [one of] the most valuable on the planet yet also too poor to pay for the materials it profits from…

  29. says

    People are already losing their jobs:

    On Thursday—one day after […] Trump’s self-branded “Liberation Day”—900 auto workers in Michigan and Indiana were “liberated” from their jobs, thanks to Trump’s new tariffs.

    Stellantis NV, which manufactures Ram trucks and Jeeps, announced on Thursday that 900 U.S. workers across five facilities were being temporarily laid off, directly citing Trump’s 25% tariffs on imported cars as the cause. […]

    Link

    Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on CBS News:

    “You’re going to see employment leaping starting today,” he said.

  31. Reginald Selkirk says

    Trump’s new tariff math looks a lot like ChatGPT’s

    ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Claude all recommend the same “nonsense” tariff calculation.

    When President Donald Trump began yesterday’s announcement of the White House’s latest trade policy brandishing a novelty-sized cardboard sign labeled “Reciprocal Tariffs,” the immediate and nearly unanimous response was bafflement. Trump slapped a 10 percent baseline tariff on all imports into the US, including from uninhabited islands, plus absurdly high rates on specific countries, supposedly based on “tariffs charged to the USA” — which didn’t match up to other, non-cardboard-sign-based estimates. Stock markets have plummeted and consumers are facing down sharp price hikes on potentially almost everything they buy.

    Where did these numbers come from? Apparently, an oversimplified calculation that several major AI chatbots happen to recommend.

    Economist James Surowiecki quickly reverse-engineered a possible explanation for the tariff pricing. He found you could recreate each of the White House’s numbers by simply taking a given country’s trade deficit with the US and dividing it by their total exports to the US. Halve that number, and you get a ready-to-use “discounted reciprocal tariff.” The White House objected to this claim and published the formula it says that it used, but as Politico points out, the formula looks like a dressed-up version of Surowiecki’s method.

    In case you weren’t sure, Surowiecki calls this approach “extraordinary nonsense.” …

    Critics suspect Trump’s weird tariff math came from chatbots

    … But while Trump expressed intent to push back on anyone supposedly taking advantage of the US, some of the countries on the reciprocal tariffs list puzzled experts and officials, who pointed out to The Guardian that Trump was, for some reason, targeting uninhabited islands, some of them exporting nothing and populated with penguins.

    Some overseas officials challenged Trump’s math, such as George Plant, the administrator of Norfolk Island, who told the Guardian that “there are no known exports from Norfolk Island to the United States and no tariffs or known non-tariff trade barriers on goods coming to Norfolk Island.”

    On social media, rumors swirled that the Trump administration got these supposedly fake numbers from chatbots. On Bluesky, tech entrepreneur Amy Hoy joined others posting screenshots from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok, each showing that the chatbots arrived at similar calculations as the Trump administration.

    Some of the chatbots also warned against the oversimplified math in outputs…

    From the comments of the latter article, someone quotes Navin Pokala:

    Also note that the tariffs are not broken down by country, they’re broken down by top level internet domain. It’s why islands that are populated entirely by penguins (the .hm domain) and why the Diego Garcia military base on BIOT (.io) are listed, also why Reunion (.re) and Gibraltor (.gi) are listed separately from France and the UK…

  32. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/oh-laura-loomer-is-now-running-the

    “Oh, Laura Loomer Is Now Running The National Security Council. IS THAT FINE?”

    Laura Loomer, the online conspiracy person who regularly says more completely crazy things than even Donald Trump, is now dictating staffing decisions for Trump’s national security team, Axios reports. […]

    Several members of Trump’s National Security Council were fired the day after Loomer had a nice visit with Trump in the Oval Office, where she urged Trump to fire people she decided were disloyal to him. The New York Times followed that with a story confirming that six NSC staff had been shitcanned based on Loomer’s List […]

    The six officials were among those vilified by Ms. Loomer during the meeting on Wednesday, the official said. Ms. Loomer walked into the White House with a sheaf of papers, which amounted to a mass of opposition research attacking the character and loyalty of numerous N.S.C. officials. She proceeded to excoriate them in front of Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, who was also in the meeting.

    Even with all the Signalgate clouds hovering over Waltz, the lucky ducky wasn’t one of the people Loomer wanted removed. […]

    All very normal, really, as long as you leave aside the minor detail that the president of the United States is taking orders from a deranged conspiracy theorist. Right, we know: we’ll have to be more specific.

    […] Trump was very busy Wednesday meeting with friends who want him to fire a lot of people; the Times notes that Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) was in the room with a “separate list of staff concerns he wanted to discuss with the president, and his planned meeting with Mr. Trump collided with Ms. Loomer’s,” […]

    Also very awkward: another person in the room was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick […] The Times notes that Lutnick’s brother was killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks […] Loomer is a HUGE 9/11 truther, and you can only imagine how awkward that must have been. […]

    The sudden firings apparently unsettled some people in the government who considered them “arbitrary,” possibly because they forgot who they’re working for. The report says “Most if not all of the officials who have been targeted by Ms. Loomer were put through a personnel vetting process run by the Trump administration,” […]

    As for Loomer, she seems close once again to being the main character she so longs to be, having gotten these NSC staffers fired, and also last week getting an assistant US Attorney in California, Adam Schleifer, shitcanned for running for Congress as a Democrat in 2020 and being what she called a “Trump hater.”

    […] Ms. Loomer […] speculated that Mr. Wong [Deputy National Security Adviser Alex Wong] was responsible for adding [Atlantic editor Jeffrey] Goldberg to the Signal chat “on purpose as part of a foreign opp to embarrass the Trump administration on behalf of China.” […]

    [I snipped details revealing Ms. Loomer’s racist and inaccurate comments about Mr. Wong’s wife.]

    Anyway, just another very normal day in Trumpland, where everyone has knives out for each other as they all work to make America great […]

  33. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/south-carolinas-please-let-us-defund

    “South Carolina’s ‘Please Let Us Defund Planned Parenthood’ Argument Was Not Too Impressive”

    “Even some of the conservative judges had a hard time buying it.”

    Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic — which will determine whether or not Medicaid beneficiaries can sue the state over being denied the right to see the “willing and qualified” doctor of their choice. Given the fact that this court overturned Roe v. Wade, we were not too hopeful.

    However, South Carolina’s argument that patients should not be able to do this was actually so bad that, according to a report from the Washington Post, both Justice Neil Gorsuch and Chief Justice John Roberts (at least) seem poised to side with Planned Parenthood. Impressive! And given that liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson are pretty much a given on this one, those two siding with PPSAT would give them a majority.

    […] The justices were largely focused on whether or not Congress could just say that people are entitled to something without actually allowing them to do anything about it if they are denied.

    […] As it stands Medicaid patients are able to choose any “willing and qualified” doctor they want

    Via Washington Post:

    To allow enforcement, Bursch said, the statute must have what he called clear “rights-creating language” that puts states on notice of the risk of litigation.

    Just as private insurers don’t provide coverage for any doctor patients may want, Bursch said, the state decides which providers are qualified and “you get to choose among them.” In this case, he said, South Carolina “decided that Planned Parenthood was unqualified for many reasons, chiefly because they’re the nation’s largest abortion provider.”

    […] It’s fairly clear that in writing “a beneficiary enrolled in a primary care case management system or Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) may not be denied freedom of choice of qualified providers of family planning services,” Congress meant for “qualified” to mean “competent.” […]

    It should be noted that all the Planned Parenthood clinics are doing is following South Carolina’s own law, which allows abortion up to six weeks. Why would that be the law if it were something that made them somehow “unqualified” to do pap smears?

    That statute is not for decorative purposes only. […] It’s meant to protect beneficiaries from being denied their choice of provider based on the personal whims of the governor or any other elected officials.

    While we’re certain that Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito will rule in favor of South Carolina regardless of how bad their arguments are, it (thankfully) seems possible that the other judges will not.

  34. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: Reginald Selkirk @31:

    the tariffs are not broken down by country, they’re broken down by top level internet domain

    Rando:

    It’s iso 3166. The system that is used for the codes for internet top level domains.

    It’s always used incorrectly by know nothing tech people to generate a list of countries, who don’t understand it also includes dependent territories and places of special interest. GenAI will get it wrong too.

  35. says

    Followup to comment 32.

    Among those let go were senior officials Brian Walsh, Thomas Boodry and David Feith, the sources said.

    Followup of sorts to Reginald @31: Investors flee U.S. stocks as markets react sharply to Trump’s tariff plan

    Related video at the link.

    Global markets reacted sharply and swiftly […] with investors fleeing U.S. stock indexes and stocks of companies that rely on global supply chains plummeting.

    Global markets posted significant losses just minutes into their trading days. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index plunged more than 4.1%, and South Korea’s Kospi stock average fell more than 2.5%. Australia’s ASX 200 dipped about 2%. ETFs (exchange-traded funds) that track specific countries, such as India, tumbled about 3%, while one that tracks Europe slid 2%, and the China ETF fell 3.8%.

    […] Shares of Apple dropped nearly 7%, Amazon 6% and Walmart 5%.

    Nike, which produced 50% of its footwear in Vietnam last year, plummeted 7% in after-hours trading.

    […] Goldman Sachs estimated that the price of a foreign-made car could soar by up to $15,000 under Trump’s tariffs. Even a vehicle assembled in the United States could face a price hike of up to $8,000, according to the bank’s analysts.

  36. Reginald Selkirk says

    North Dakota voters banned lawmakers from seeking term limit changes. They did it anyway

    When North Dakota voters approved term limits for state legislators, they specified that the Legislature couldn’t seek to change the new restrictions.

    On Wednesday, the state House opted to propose a big change, anyway.

    “You have plain language in the constitution restricting what the Legislature can do,” said Republican Rep. Jared Hendrix, the leader of the term limit ballot initiative in 2022.

    The Senate earlier passed the measure. Now it appears set up for the November 2026 election.

    The 2022 measure, which amended the state constitution, said the Legislature “shall not have authority to propose an amendment to this constitution to alter or repeal the term limitations established in … this article.” …

    Hmmm. The 2022 measure would have the force of a constitutional measure, so a mere legislative act could not alter it. But if the 2022 measure says that no future amendment can alter it, that probably would not stand. IANAL

  37. Reginald Selkirk says

    American arrested after leaving can of Coke for world’s most isolated tribe

    An American tourist has been arrested after sailing to a remote island and leaving behind a can of Coke and a coconut for the world’s most dangerous and isolated people.

    North Sentinel Island…

    Yet Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, made an illegal visit to the island on Saturday using a makeshift craft to cross a 25-mile strait, Indian police said.

    They arrested the American, who has a Ukrainian father, on his return as the island has been off limits since 1996, with Indian navy vessels patrolling a five-mile exclusion zone to prevent any unauthorised landings…

    “They”? Lousy journalism. It’s a new paragraph. Anyway…

    From his boat, he scanned the area with binoculars but saw no sign of the Sentinelese. For about an hour, he blew a whistle to try to attract attention but received no response.

    He then briefly stepped onto the island, left a can of Coca-Cola and a coconut as offerings, collected sand samples and recorded a video before departing…

    Police said the 24-year-old had previously attempted illegal interactions with the archipelago’s other indigenous tribes…

    Police have filed a case against him for breach of protection of aboriginal tribes and informed the ministry of external affairs and the US embassy.

    Caroline Pearce, the director of indigenous rights group Survival International, said Polyakov’s attempt to make contact with Sentinelese people was “deeply disturbing”.

    She said: “It beggars belief that someone could be that reckless and idiotic. This person’s actions not only endangered his own life, they put the lives of the entire Sentinelese tribe at risk.

    “It’s very well known by now that uncontacted peoples have no immunity to common outside diseases like flu or measles, which could completely wipe them out.” …

  38. birgerjohansson says

    38 years and two days since the album Solitude Standing by Suzanne Vega. I just thought I should mention something not touched by corruption.

  39. Reginald Selkirk says

    Wealthy Americans have death rates on par with poor Europeans

    It’s well-established that, on the whole, Americans die younger than people in most other high-income countries. For instance, an analysis from 2022 found that the average life expectancy of someone born in Switzerland or Spain in 2019 was 84 years. Meanwhile, the average US life expectancy was 78.8, lower than nearly all other high-income countries, including Canada’s, which was 82.3 years. And this was before the pandemic, which only made things worse for the US.

    Perhaps some Americans may think that this lower overall life-expectancy doesn’t really apply to them if they’re middle- or upper-class. After all, wealth inequality and health disparities are huge problems in the US. Those with more money simply have better access to health care and better health outcomes. Well-off Americans live longer, with lifespans on par with their peers in high-income countries, some may think.

    It is true that money buys you a longer life in the US. In fact, the link between wealth and mortality may be stronger in the US than in any other high-income country. But, if you think American wealth will put life expectancy in league with Switzerland, you’re dead wrong, according to a study in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine…

  41. says

    NBC News:

    Major U.S. stock indexes on Thursday saw their worst one-day drawdowns since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The S&P 500 fell 4.8%, while the Nasdaq fell 6% — both their worst since 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 4%, or more than 1,600 — its worst sell-off since 2022.

    The Hill:

    […] Trump on Thursday insisted that the rollout of his new reciprocal tariffs is ‘going really well’ despite markets taking a plunge and foreign leaders appearing rattled by the prospect of a global recession.

    NBC:

    The government of Canada will be responding to automotive tariffs from the United States by matching 25% tariffs on all vehicles imported from the U.S. that are not compliant with CUSMA, our North American free trade agreement, and on the non-Canadian content of CUSMA-compliant vehicles from the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced today.

  42. says

    New York Times:

    Hungary said on Thursday that it would pull out of the International Criminal Court, announcing its decision just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel arrived there for a visit despite facing an international arrest warrant.

  43. says

    Associated Press:

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration’s new envoy to NATO are seeking to reassure wary members of the U.S. commitment to the alliance. Rubio on Thursday decried ‘hysteria and hyperbole’ in the media about U.S. President Donald Trump’s intentions, despite persistent signals from Washington that NATO as it has existed for 75 years may no longer be relevant.

  44. says

    Yahoo News:

    Another Washington Post staffer is ditching the paper over owner Jeff Bezos’ recent changes to its coverage. Eugene Robinson, the longtime political columnist, told staff on Thursday he is leaving WaPo after 45 years due to the ‘significant shift’ Bezos recently implemented, where the opinion section will focus on the ‘two pillars’ of personal liberties and free markets.”

  45. says

    Judge Puts Screws To Trump DOJ On Who Exactly May Have Ignored His Orders On Alien Enemies Act

    The Trump Justice Department was at times squirrely, at times withholding and at times quick to whip out attorney-client privilege Thursday as a federal judge tried to discern who exactly in the administration may have violated his orders.

    U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, in his Washington D.C. courtroom, pressed Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign on who exactly told planes carrying Venezuelan detainees deported under the Alien Enemies Act not to turn around, even after he’d ordered that those detainees not be removed from U.S. custody.

    “You’ve said that it was perfectly appropriate for the government to act as it did, so who made that perfectly appropriate decision?” Boasberg asked.

    “Your honor, I don’t know that,” Ensign replied.

    Boasberg, chuckling, asked: “Were you told?”

    “Your honor, I haven’t been told,” Ensign said.

    “So you, standing here, have no idea who made the decision to not bring the planes back, or have passengers not disembark upon arrival?” Boasberg asked incredulously.

    “Your honor, I do not know those operational details,” Ensign replied.

    Boasberg then asked the government how it wanted to proceed, as he’d need names of people to hold in contempt of court, should he make that finding. The lawyer for the detainees, in his comparatively brief conversation with the judge, advocated for some kind of sworn evidence, preferably hearings or depositions, as he argued that the government hadn’t been forthcoming in its written declarations so far.

    Boasberg went far deeper than in previous hearings towards trying to learn who in the government knew about his order, when they knew it and who specifically chose to potentially disregard him. […]

    [The judge] will rule on whether to find probable cause to begin contempt proceedings. From there, Boasberg could use the contempt process to haul in senior officials and, as the judge put it at a hearing last month, “get to the bottom” of who decided that the planes would continue on to El Salvador after the court ordered their reversal.

    Boasberg [said] at one point that “ICE clearly knew about this proclamation before 3:53 p.m.” while expressing disbelief that the Trump administration could have moved three planeloads of people to El Salvador without extensive preparations.

    […] He remarked at one point that “one could infer” that ICE had begun working on this long before the Alien Enemies Act invocation was publicly proclaimed.

    After Ensign agreed, Boasberg followed up: “What other inference could you draw from that?”

    Ensign squirmed as Boasberg hammered the point.

    There was a “fair likelihood” that “the government acted in bad faith throughout that day,” the judge said. “If you really believed everything you did that day was legal and could survive a court challenge, I can’t believe you ever would have operated the way you did.”

    Boasberg tallied the human cost of such haste, pointing out that “at least one” person “that we know of” shouldn’t have been deported at all, referring to the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had been granted protection by a judge from being deported and was in the United States on a work permit.

    Meanwhile, the case is continuing on the merits. Boasberg will gather the parties again next week for a hearing on the detainees’ motion for a preliminary injunction, a more permanent ban on Trump’s deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

  47. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    US Trade Rep – Reciprocal Tariff Calculations
    https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations

    Brendan Duke (Center on Budget & Policy Priorities):

    Incredible stuff—they wanted to make the [formula] seem more sophisticated than it is so they threw in two Greek letters but selected values that cancel out so it’s still just trade deficit divided by imports.
    [Screenshot of a fraction with “epsilon * phi” cluttering its denominator, defined in caption text as 4 and 0.25.]

    Rando 1: “We need math majors to weigh in on this ground-breaking Trump and Musk genius formula that uses 4 x 1/4 = 1.”
    Rando 2: “As a mathematician I feel extra angry at this.”
    —
    CNN – Trump aide says tariffs will raise $6 trillion, which would be largest tax hike in US history

    Ben Raderstorf: “This press conference cost the U.S. stock market somewhere in the realm of $1-2 trillion dollars.”

    Aaron Rupar:

    Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins next to a ticker showing the Dow down 1,200 points: “We are really, really excited, and very grateful for President Trump’s leadership.” [Video clip]

    Rando 3: “Just 14 people are holding us hostage to the mad king. 4 GOP Representatives and 10 GOP Senators could end this all anytime they wanted.”

    Josh Marshall (TPM): “a US President has no inherent power over tariffs whatsoever. It’s not like war powers or pardons. It’s entirely delegated by Congress to deal with emergencies.”
    —
    Rando 4: “Funniest fucking way to violate the One China policy lmao.
    [Screenshot: Taiwan among tariffed countries]”

    Anna Bower: “No tariffs on the invading foreign government, tren de aragua??”
    —
    Aaron Fritschner (House staffer):

    List of countries not subjected to tariffs: Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Cuba. […] The White House says tariffs on Russia (and presumably these others) are unnecessary because we don’t trade with them on account of trade embargoes. 3 points:
    1) Not true.
    2) Iran and Syria are heavily embargoed, but still got tariffs.
    3) Trump put tariffs on several uninhabited islands.

    Eric Columbus: “It’s almost like three of these tariff-exempt countries are included as window-dressing for the fourth.”
    —
    Reuters – Trump’s tariffs already have a major carve-out. Oil and gas

  48. John Morales says

    Josh Marshall (TPM): “a US President has no inherent power over tariffs whatsoever. It’s not like war powers or pardons. It’s entirely delegated by Congress to deal with emergencies.”

    Quite evidently, that claim is incorrect.
    This USA president indeed has that inherent power.

    (You can tell because he actually has done it. Whatever one does, perforce one has the power to do that)

  49. StevoR says

    Misleading to call what was really probly a lesser Neptune a “Super-Earth” and likely not really a single explosion but probly a sustained ejection over I’m thinking time but this is still rather staggering :

    Yet if TOI-152b had been reduced by stellar radiation, there would be no water or atmosphere left at all. Instead, Rodrigues’ team suggest that the core-powered mass loss is the better explanation, particularly for TOI-152b’s age of 8.235 billion years (albeit with an uncertainty of 4.386 billion years), since core-powered mass loss is a process that can last billions of years.

    That’s not to say that all planets that pass through the hot Neptune desert lose their gaseous envelopes in this same way. It’s possible that their gaseous layer can be removed by one or both of solar radiation and core-powered mass loss, depending upon the planet and the star.

    Source : https://www.space.com/the-universe/exoplanets/this-newly-found-super-earth-might-have-blown-off-its-own-atmosphere

  50. Jean says

    John Morales,

    You have problem understanding English. He doesn’t have inherent power, he has delegated power which is what he is exercising (in an abusive way but the GOP Congress is letting him abuse that power).

  52. StevoR says

    @48. John Morales : “You can tell because he actually has done it. Whatever one does, perforce one has the power to do that.”

    I guess in practice but legally speaking? People commit murder and all sorts of crimes all the time. Does that mean they have the power to do that?

    Just because someone can do something doesn’t mean they have the right to do it or that it is legal for them to do so. Just because Trump is effectively now acting as a dictator doesn’t mean it is right or legal or constitutional for him to do so. He might have done it but not supposedly been able to do it and committed a crime or legal as wellas ethical violation in doing it.

  53. says

    One day after Trump’s delusional press conference before an audience of similarly deluded sycophants, in which he proudly touted his justifications for imposing a battery of farcically-calculated tariffs upon the goods and services of most developed nations on the planet (Russia being curiously exempted), the editors of The Economist have weighed in on the all-but-certain ramifications of those tariffs:

    If you failed to spot America being “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far” [quoting Trump] or it being cruelly denied a “turn to prosper”, then congratulations: you have a firmer grip on reality than the president of the United States. It’s hard to know which is more unsettling: that the leader of the free world could spout complete drivel about its most successful and admired economy. Or the fact that on April 2nd, spurred on by his delusions, Donald Trump announced the biggest break in America’s trade policy in over a century—and committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era.

    The “most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error” indeed. And it’s not clear why anyone possessing even a rudimentary understanding of America’s place in the world economy would sign on to a program that virtually assures its utter and complete annihilation. One plausible explanation for such weird credulity is that many in the financial press expect Trump’s fixations to be temporary and that somehow, some way, everything will return to normal before too long. That once Trump perceives the stock market crashing— as investors flee to whatever safe havens they can scrounge — cooler heads will at last prevail upon him to move on to another distraction. This ignores the fact that there are no longer any members of his economic “team” willing to tell Trump that his ideas are catastrophic. And it ignores the fact that they were specifically selected for just that reason.

    The other, darker (but seemingly more likely) explanation, is that they themselves are so petrified that they cannot bring themselves to acknowledge what is happening right before their eyes, or worse, that they will, by their fealty to Trump, somehow be insulated from its consequences.

    The authors of the Economist’s editorial duly reiterate what should be self-evident to anyone with a functioning brain, or at least one capable of recalling and processing even the tiniest fragment of our country’s history:

    Almost everything Mr Trump said this week—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded. His reading of history is upside down. He has long glorified the high-tariff, low-income-tax era of the late-19th century. In fact, the best scholarship shows that tariffs impeded the economy back then. He has now added the bizarre claim that lifting tariffs caused the Depression of the 1930s and that the Smoot-Hawley tariffs were too late to rescue the situation. The reality is that tariffs made the Depression much worse, just as they will harm all economies today. It was the painstaking rounds of trade talks in the subsequent 80 years that lowered tariffs and helped increase prosperity.

    […] As the editors laconically put it, “This catalogue of foolishness will bring needless harm to America. Consumers will pay more and have less choice.”

    But even that understates the ultimate destructive economic effect of these tariffs. Consumer spending will inevitably tank as Americans see their disposable income drying up before their eyes. Investment in the stock market will collapse as market gains become more and more elusive and unpredictable. We’ve already lost the confidence of our former trading partners […] What we’re potentially risking is not simply a recession, but a permanent devolution in most Americans’ standard of living.

    As the editors observe, Trump’s tariff bludgeon will simply prompt our former friends to seek out sane trading partners rather than risk further trade losses in dealing with an unstable regime led by a mercurial incompetent:

    Instead, governments should focus on increasing trade flows among themselves, especially in the services that power the 21st-century economy. With a share of final demand for imports of only 15%, America does not dominate global trade the way it does global finance or military spending. Even if it halted imports entirely, on current trends 100 of its trading partners would have recovered all their lost exports within just five years, calculates Global Trade Alert, a think-tank.

    The Economist counsels other nations to be cautious on retaliation, predicting (accurately) that it would only cause Trump to double down. But that is like asking someone not to stand up to a bully because he might hit you again if you do. Other countries are still answerable to their own citizens, and those citizens are going to become increasingly anti-American on just about everything that matters (On top of all this, Trump’s draconian immigration practices are rapidly transforming us into a pariah state no one wants to visit).

    Finally, the idea — actually espoused by Trump at his press conference — that other countries will simply cave to Trump’s demands and rush to open factories in the U.S. is preposterous. Does anyone think Vietnam or Indonesia have any possible interest in moving their manufacturing base here? What sort of hallucinatory world do these people live in?

    There is no favorable outcome for Americans with these tariffs. None. It’s all bad, a wholly pointless, self-inflicted wound, apparently all premised on the irrational whims of someone whose own horrendous business record should have prohibited him from ever leading this country in the first place, let alone implementing its economic policies.

    Link

  54. StevoR says

    Occassional reminder for fellow Aussies or those visiting my hometown now that there’s an ongoing Vigil for Refugees locked up on Manus & Nauru and left in limbo here by the racist and sadistic anti-refugee policies of the Australian govt held every Friday night – including tonight in a few hours time – in Adelaide city centre – middle of Rundle Mall near the giant metal pigeon sculpture and Gawler place intersection starting 5 pm and going for an hour and a quarter. All welcome.

    Its been going for years now as this old link complete with map shows athough, again, we now start at 5 pm.:

    https://justiceforrefugeessa.org/event/weekly-vigil-for-manus-and-nauru/

    Plus about this issue :

    Since 2001, the Australian government has passed several laws that allow the detention of asylum seekers in offshore centres located on the islands of Nauru and Manus. … (snip).. These actions contravene international law, with our “paltry commitment to the Refugee Convention” deemed one of the worst in the world. Detention makes little sense, given that 90% of cases are found to be “genuine refugees.” The majority of asylum seekers have been in detention for at least two years. Even after they were released into the community, they were initially not allowed to work.

    In 2014, the Government offered migrants up to $10,000 to go back home to face certain persecution; a scheme that was resolutely condemned by human rights experts. The Government simultaneously cut legal aid to refugees, making it even harder for them to receive informed support.

    The ensuing health damage suffered by asylum seekers is woefully inhumane. Australia’s humanitarian program has been criminally pared back, along with our collective morality. We must not accept this unfair system in the name of so-called “Australian values.”

    Source : https://othersociologist.com/2017/05/01/australias-unfair-unjust-refugee-policies/

    In addition to :

    https://www.amnesty-international.be/sites/default/files/2018-10/offshore_processing_fact_sheet_updated_28-8.pdf

    A lot of small print, tightly spaced text there, sorry., You’d think Amnesty would have kinder easier to read formatting but still.

  55. StevoR says

    Our Fossil Fools Lobby at “work” as usual :

    The Coalition’s internal pollster is helping orchestrate a campaign to boost public support for the gas industry ahead of the federal election in what has been described as “textbook astroturfing”. An ABC investigation has discovered the public relations and research firm Freshwater Strategy is working with Australians for Natural Gas, which claims to be a grassroots movement representing households and small business.

    Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-04/coalition-pollster-working-with-australians-for-natural-gas/105129478

    Deliberately deceptively nice name for a very nasty group.

  56. John Morales says

    I guess in practice but legally speaking? People commit murder and all sorts of crimes all the time. Does that mean they have the power to do that?

    They do if nobody stops them or punishes them, StevoR.

    de jure vs. de facto is the distinction at hand.

    (Can’t argue with reality)

  57. John Morales says

    “A lot of small print, tightly spaced text there, sorry.”

    Ahem. Save the .pdf as a different format, one that allows you to fiddle with the font size.

  58. says

    […] if you’re a white South African farmer whose alleged persecution at the hands of the majority-Black nation has filled the spank banks of innumerable white supremacists over the years, it’s your lucky day. Not only are we going to recruit you to come to America, but we’re also going to open refugee centers in South Africa itself, where you can walk in […]

    From The New York Times:

    Under Phase One of the program, the United States has deployed multiple teams to convert commercial office space in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, into ad hoc refugee centers, according to the documents. The teams are studying more than 8,200 requests expressing interest in resettling to the United States and have already identified 100 Afrikaners who could be approved for refugee status. The government officials have been directed to focus particularly on screening white Afrikaner farmers.

    The administration has also provided security escorts to officials conducting the interviews of potential refugees.

    Isn’t that a treat? We are revoking visas and refugee status and rounding up and selling into Salvadoran supermax any foreigner who so much as looks at an ICE agent funny. We have taken a scythe to USAID and every other agency that the nation has built since World War II to spread America’s soft power by providing food and medication and educations and clean water and shelter and God only knows what else, mostly to developing countries. […]

    America will go so far as to [install] armed security teams to make sure you’re safe in the office space we rented in the crime-ridden hellhole that is Pretoria. […]

    The whole idea that white South African farmers are an endangered group is, in a word, horseshit. The Trump administration has tried to claim they are being murdered at a high rate. They are not. The administration has claimed the majority-Black government is seizing whites’ land as some sort of revenge for decades of apartheid. It is not.

    And despite all the whining about the South African government seizing their homesteads, whites in the country own about half the land while making up only seven percent of the population. We’re not talking about an oppressed minority being shut out of society here.

    But the shibboleth that white South Afrikaners are being persecuted has been a longtime obsession of the Right, and it has permeated the mainstream of the GOP […]

    As one observer told the Times, there is no subtext with Trump administration policy. This is simply government ordered around the idea that the Great Replacement theory is real, and not a paranoid construct invented by people for whom the sight of brown skin induces panic attacks. So the administration is kicking out many of the dark-skinned people it thinks have been imported to vote Democratic, and bringing in the white people it is sure will vote Republican.

    The white South Africans certainly appreciate America’s help. Ernst Roets, a South African who has lobbied hard for the rights of his fellow white people, told the Times that Afrikaners feel “seen” by Trump.

    On top of that, the US just named L. Brent Bozell III as ambassador to South Africa. Bozell’s father was […] a huge fan of the theocratic authoritarianism of Francisco Franco. His son is a January 6 rioter who was serving a four-year prison sentence when Trump pardoned him.

    This is a family of racism royalty, is the point we’re trying to get at here. Lucky for them, the rest of the GOP is no longer pretending it hasn’t caught up.

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/us-refugee-centers-to-help-white

  59. StevoR says

    @ ^ John Morales : true – folks can copy’n’paste and then resize, add white space for readability, etc..as suits but it’s still a pain to have to do that & be nicer if formatetd better and in larger font to begin with.

    Aklso, yeah. Laws were suppsoed to mean something and be applied equally and pout limits on everybody once. I hope we’ve not seen the final demise of that basic notion but, well.. here we are. Depressing that.

  61. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket):

    Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) staffers who were put on admin leave on Monday just got letters letting them know they’re a part of a Reduction in Force (RIF) and that their job will be “abolished” effective May 4th in accordance with Trump’s EO

     
    Marisa Kabas:

    DOGE is canceling congressionally-appropriated grants to state libraries across the entire country. Libraries are getting notice that funding was canceled as of 4/1. Look at these fucking assholes celebrating defunding libraries. [Screenshot]

    Lauren Donohue:

    Was the University of Tennessee actually studying LGBTQIA+ library users’ metadata? […] unlike all the other programs they’re crowing about, that on its face, sounds QUITE BAD.

    * Nope. Media tagging schemes for borrowers to more easily search.
    * IMLS Grant: “focus groups to better understand how adult LGBTQ+ library users make use of current library catalogs and metadata, and how this metadata could be enhanced to better reflect the language, needs, and uses of this diverse group of library users.”

    Portia Kapraun (Librarian): “On top of everything else, canceling $25M in grants to ‘save’ $15M sounds to me like you wasted $10M and have nothing to show for it.”

    Rando: “The government gives Elon Musk 25 million dollars every three days.”
    * $8 million/day in grants circa 2023, say Rep. Greg Casar, usaspending, and NYT.

  62. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    WaPo – South Korean court removes president from office

    the country’s Constitutional Court upheld a parliamentary vote to impeach him over his December effort to impose martial law. […] South Korea must now hold an election within 60 days to choose a new president. The head of the liberal Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, is the front-runner, while Yoon’s People Power Party has no clear candidate to succeed him.
    […]
    [Former President] Yoon still faces a separate criminal trial, which begins on April 14; he was indicted and charged with leading an insurrection

  63. Silentbob says

    Well, I don’t know this is the “friendly engagement” requested but content note for sexual violence:

    This is incredible: A transgender women in Florida (who happens to be a devout Catholic) notified authorities that she intended to engage in civil disobedience by breaking a law banning trans women from women’s restrooms in the state capitol building. She told them the date and time. She said she fully expected to get arrested, sent a male prison, and raped. She sent a photo so they could identify her!

    https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trans-woman-arrested-sent-to-mens

    Officers were waiting to arrest her when she arrived. She did it anyway. She went in and washed her hands, they arrested her, they sent her to a male prison.

    As I’m sure will be no surprise to anyone, trans women have been raped and murdered in male prisons. They prison guards deliberately place them with violent men. That last one was in California. My blood runs cold at what will happen to her in Florida.

    I’m just astonished any human being can have such courage.

    Her name is Marcy Rheintgen. She’s a Rosa Parks for our time except more so. She’s barely 20.

  64. birgerjohansson says

    Science Fiction
    Neal Asher’s “Dark Diamond” set in the Polity narrative universe sees the return of Ian Cormac.

  69. Reginald Selkirk says

    Sen. Grassley Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Claw Back Tariff Power From Trump

    …
    Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, introduced the Trade Review Act of 2025. The bill would require the president to notify Congress of any new tariff within 48 hours of its imposition. And it would mean that any new tariffs would need to be approved by Congress within 60 days or they would expire.

    “For too long, Congress has delegated its clear authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch,” Grassley said in a statement to NBC News. “Building on my previous efforts as Finance Committee Chairman, I’m joining Senator Cantwell to introduce the bipartisan Trade Review Act of 2025 to reassert Congress’s constitutional role and ensure Congress has a voice in trade policy.”
    …

    The wind direction must be changing if Grassley is pretending to stand up to Trump.

  72. JM says

    CNN: Trump administration fires director of National Security Agency

    The Trump administration has fired the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, the United States’ powerful cyber intelligence bureau, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation, members of the Senate and House intelligence committees and two former officials familiar with the matter.
    The dismissal of Gen. Timothy Haugh, who also leads US Cyber Command — the military’s offensive and defensive cyber unit — is a major shakeup of the US intelligence community which is navigating significant changes in the first two months of the Trump administration. Wendy Noble, Haugh’s deputy at NSA, was also removed, according to the former officials and lawmakers.

    The news of the dismissals comes as the White House also fired multiple staff members on the National Security Council on Thursday, after Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who once claimed 9/11 was an inside job, urged President Donald Trump during a Wednesday meeting to do so, arguing that they were disloyal.

    No indication they did anything bad or wrong. Loomer just felt they were not personally loyal to Trump and convinced Trump they couldn’t be trusted.
    If the country manages to survive and elect a rational president they will be able to fill a bunch of positions just by inviting the people Trump removed to take their old jobs back.

  73. Audley Z Darkheart says

    chigau:
    I think it’s been even longer. I hope your change has been good? Or at least healthy.

    I just realized that I knew you long before DarkFetus was born and she’s turning 13 this year.

  74. says

    https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
    Ayman Mohyeldin hosts the show.

    Children put at risk in Donald Trump’s petty vendetta against the state of Maine
    Video is 8:53 minutes

    Lack of answers from Trump on tariff game plan leaves investors uneasy
    Video is 6:27 minutes

    Needless economic pain from Trump not even worth it if his tariff gambit works: Economist
    Video is 4:40 minutes

  76. says

    Reginald @69, Trump can do a lot of damage in 60 days with a Tariff. Good to see Chuck Grassley stiffening his spine even a little bit, but I think his proposed bill is inadequate.

    Text quoted by Sky Captain @61:

    DOGE is canceling congressionally-appropriated grants to state libraries across the entire country. Libraries are getting notice that funding was canceled as of 4/1. Look at these fucking assholes celebrating defunding libraries. [Screenshot]

    I have always loved libraries. In most cases, they serve everyone in their community and they do it well.

  77. chigau (違う) says

    Audley
    Changes mostly involving inevitable stuff that goes with aging. So good, some bad.
    But I’m comfortable.
    DarkTeenager! Forsooth!

  78. says

    The good news on job growth comes with some important fine print

    “The good news on job growth is encouraging, but it in no way validates the White House’s radical agenda on tariffs and mass layoffs.”

    Expectations heading into this week showed projections of about 140,000 new jobs having been added in the United States in March. As it turns out, according to the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the totals easily exceeded expectations. NBC News reported:

    The U.S. added 228,000 jobs in March, far more than the 140,000 economists had expected. Unemployment ticked up slightly to 4.2% from 4.1% the month before. … The March report shows a resilient U.S. economy, though it’s already a snapshot in time. After […] Trump’s sweeping tariffs announcement Wednesday slammed into global markets, analysts say the labor market is likely to enter more uncertain terrain.

    By any fair measure, 228,000 jobs in a month is a good number, and 4.2% is still low by historical standards. The totals from January and February were revised down, and job growth in the first quarter of 2025 was the worst first quarter since Trump’s first term, but all things considered, it’d be a mistake to suggest that the latest data is discouraging.

    But there is some fine print: The job totals were collected in early March, long before the Trump administration roiled the global economy and sent markets into tailspins.

    About a half-hour after the jobs report reached the public, the president published an item to his social media platform that read, “GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANK TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!”

    The idea that the Republican’s agenda is “already working” isn’t just wrong, it’s absurd. The likelihood of a recession is growing. Key businesses have announced layoffs. Consumer prices are poised to climb. Domestic markets are reeling.

    The good news on job growth is encouraging, but it in no way validates the White House’s radical and dangerous agenda.

    […] In other words, there’s nothing wrong with feeling good about a solid jobs report, but it’d probably be best to keep the champagne on ice.

  79. says

    Whoopsie. RFK Jr. scrambles to rehire some public health officials after firing them

    “Some of those fired by the Department of Health and Human Services have been rehired. Amid mass layoffs, this keeps happening.”

    Even those who marveled at the Trump administration’s mass firings in recent months were stunned by this week’s personnel bloodbath at the Department of Health and Human Services. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. carried out layoffs throughout the nation’s public health infrastructure, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.

    […] The Bulwark’s Jonathan Cohn added, “The sheer breadth of the cuts is staggering: The layoffs affected agencies that exist to fight deadly pathogens, to protect the nation’s drug supply, to finance and carry out cutting-edge research — along with countless other divisions and offices that touch everything from rural health to early childhood care.”

    […] Two days later, as The New York Times reported, RFK Jr. started undoing some of what he’d done.

    After moving to fire 10,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, said that ‘some programs’ that were cut in the mass firings ‘were being reinstated,’ including one branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that monitors and works to reduce lead levels among children.

    […]
    “[…] Personnel that should not have been cut were cut — we’re reinstating them, and that was always the plan.”

    Really? It was “always the plan” to scrap much of the nation’s public health infrastructure, only to reverse course on part of the agenda 48 hours later? Why would anyone come up with such a “plan”?

    […] Team Trump fired National Nuclear Security Administration officials and then rehired them (or at least tried to rehire them). Team Trump also fired CDC officials working on bird flu and then rehired them. Team Trump also fired National Park Service officials and then rehired them. Team Trump also fired officials at the FDA who work on medical device safety and then rehired them.

    About a month ago, The New York Times published a related list of other federal workers who were fired and rehired — in some instances, within days — and the list wasn’t especially short.

    A month later, that tally is still growing, reinforcing concerns that these guys simply don’t know what they’re doing […]

  80. says

    WTF moment for sure.

    All it took for President Trump to fire keys members of his own national security team was the urging of right-wing conspiracist Laura Loomer in an insane Oval Office meeting Wednesday.

    Loomer, who was a peculiar figure accompanying Trump on the campaign trail last year, has previously described herself as “pro-white nationalism” and a “proud Islamophobe,” as TPM’s Hunter Walker has noted.

    Following the meeting, Trump yesterday proceeded to fire:
    – six members of his own National Security Council;
    – Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, who was the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command;
    – Wendy Noble, the civilian deputy to Haugh at the National Security Agency.

    (Note: The National Security Council is a White House entity overseen by the president’s national security adviser; whereas, the National Security Agency is an intelligence agency within the Defense Department tasked primarily with scooping up vast quantities of signals intelligence.) […]

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/laura-loomer-says-jump-trump-asks-how-high

  81. says

    Mel Gibson Is Gonna Get His Gun Rights Back

    The U.S. pardon attorney was fired by the Trump Justice Department after she refused to endorse restoring gun rights to Mel Gibson, who lost them after a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor. Elizabeth Oyer had resisted internal pressure from a DOJ official who said Gibson “has a personal relationship with President Trump.” Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi has approved Gibson for the list of those getting their gun rights back.

    Same link as in comment 80.

  82. says

    […] Donald Trump isn’t attending the dignified transfer of four American soldiers who died in Lithuania, because he has instead chosen to attend a Saudi-backed golf tournament at his country club in Doral, Florida.

    Staff Sgt. Jose Duenez Jr., Staff Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, and Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins, all in their twenties, died during a training exercise in the Baltic region of Europe when the military vehicle they were driving sank into a swamp, Military.com reported.

    Their bodies began their dignified transfer back to the United States on Thursday and are expected to arrive on Friday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. In place of Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will be present at the transfer, according to Fox News.

    “The President of the United States as of now will not meet the remains of our service members when they land at Dover…because he will be at a golf tournament,” Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona wrote in a post on X. “Now you see why we are worried about his cuts to the [Department of Veterans Affairs]?” [Calendar showing how often Trump plays golf]

    Unlike Trump, thousands of Lithuanians have honored the soldiers, lining the streets of Vilnius as the hearses carrying their bodies drove to the airport on Thursday.

    [I snipped other examples of Trump disrespecting military personnel and veteran.]

    Trump choosing golf over honoring fallen soldiers is par for the course—pun not intended. The selfish commander-in-chief left for Florida on Thursday just one day after tanking the stock market due to his idiotic tariff policy.

    Link

  83. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/should-we-talk-about-the-weather

    “Should We Talk About The Weather? Should We Talk About The Government?”

    Severe storms this week have caused tornadoes, high winds, and flooding across large parts of the country since Wednesday, killing a least seven people so far, with more storms expected in the Midwest and Southeast in the next few days. The wave of storms comes as the National Weather Service (NWS) is coping with huge job losses thanks to Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s war on government agencies, especially the ones that deal with climate change, which Trumpers consider a made-up “religious” belief that can be safely ignored. The current storms follow another heavy storm system in March that killed at least 39 in tornadoes, high winds, and wildfires.

    The weather service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has lost at least 2,000 workers between firings, layoffs of “provisional” employees, and people taking/being pushed to take buyouts, leading to about 20 percent fewer staff dealing with the same amount of weather, which the administration has been unable to cut.

    In addition to the staff cuts, NOAA will shut down a number of its research division’s websites because its contracts with web services providers have been cancelled, according to Bloomberg News (gift link). [Lots of embedded links to additional sources are available at the main link.]

    As a result, almost all external websites reliant on Amazon, Google and WordPress services are poised to vanish early Saturday morning in Washington, wiping the bulk of the unit’s work, which includes climate and environmental science research, from public view.

    Scientists have been warning that the mass firings will harm weather forecasting and endanger the public, especially as hurricane season approaches. Of course, it’s extremely difficult to prove any links between the staff cuts and potential loss of life due to extreme weather, which kills people no matter how good the forecasts are. But any loss of lead time in warning the public, especially in the case of tornadoes, will make it harder for people to take shelter.

    Already this week, the National Weather Service office in Louisville, Kentucky, announced that because of staffing shortages, it wouldn’t be able to send teams out to survey the damage from tornadoes that hit the area Wednesday, at least not until after currently forecast storms have cleared, probably near the end of this weekend. […]

    The staffing cuts have also forced multiple NWS locations to cut weather balloon launches from twice daily to just one a day. Some locations will halt balloon launches altogether […]

    The NWS uses these weather balloons, until recently launched twice per day from 100 total locations, to gather temperature, wind, pressure and other data from the ground up to approximately 100,000 feet. The results are compiled along with data from satellites, radar stations, surface weather stations, buoys and aircraft to build weather models and forecasts that are public and freely available.

    […] “Does it mean every single forecast is going to be poor? No, but it does mean that the uncertainties in our forecast will grow over time.”

    […] The tragic thing here is that improvements in weather forecasting have led to significantly fewer deaths from extreme weather in the US and around the world. That’s primarily because forecasters have been able to give the public greater lead time in warning of conditions that will spawn tornadoes, as well as more accurate forecasts of the track of hurricanes […]

    staffing cuts in the NWS will enshittify forecasts overall, and it’s only logical to expect crappier forecasts will leave the public with less ability to prepare for or escape storms. But unless reduced staff causes some really glaring bit of information to go missing, it’ll be very hard to connect the job cuts to particular storm losses. We forecast dangerous levels of gaslighting on all this.

  84. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/here-come-the-layoffs

    According to a report from recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released on Thursday, 275,240 people lost their jobs last month. That is a fuckton of people. In fact, it is the third highest number of jobs lost in a single month since they first started tracking job cuts in 1989, the other two being the first two months of the COVID pandemic. […]

    It should come as a shock to absolutely no one that roughly 80 percent of those job losses were caused by Elon Musk and his merry band of incels running around federal agencies and firing people at random. That’s so many jobs! […]

    In fact, the Warren Stamping plant [affected by Stellantis layoffs] is located in Macomb County, Michigan (55.81 percent to Trump), which is pretty interesting given that pro-Trump autoworkers from Macomb joined Trump in the Rose Garden for his big “Liberation Day” announcement.

    Luckily for those workers, they are unionized, which means they will still get paid — for now. If it goes on for much longer, however … that could change.

    Whirlpool also announced this week that they would be laying off 651 workers at their plant in Amana, an unincorporated place in Iowa County, Iowa, as a result of “necessary adjustments … to align with current market conditions driven by consumer demand.”

    The company said the layoffs were unrelated to tariffs, but it seems safe to say that the “market conditions” are likely related to Trump’s general nonsense.

    Would you like to guess who Iowa County, Iowa voted for? Also Donald Trump, with 62.95 percent.

    […] It would likely take from one to two years for Stellantis to open plants in the United States to replace the plants in Canada and Mexico. Were Trump to really be acting in the interests of American workers, he would figure something out to protect their jobs while Stellantis built those plants and put the company on some kind of timeline to bring those jobs to the US before any tariffs are enacted. He hasn’t.

    […] On Xitter, there were tons of people excitedly proclaiming that we could bring clothing and textile manufacturing back to the United States, which sounds great in the hypothetical. The fact is, we do still have garment workers in the United States, but they often make far less than minimum wage. Because they are frequently paid on a piece-rate basis, many only make about $1.58 an hour. That needs to be fixed before we bring more of it over here, because “more jobs that pay $1.58 an hour” is not something that helps anyone. […]

    Related video at the link.

  85. says

    Dow and S&P 500 continue declines as U.S. markets endure another chaotic day

    “Friday’s slide comes after U.S. markets suffered their worst day since 2020.”

    Related video at the link.

    U.S. stocks are in the middle of another brutal and chaotic day, with major indexes dropping more than 3% each.

    The broad-based S&P 500 had fallen 4.5% as of early Friday afternoon, and is now down more than 16% from its mid-February high.

    The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down even further, sliding about 3.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,500 points, or about 4%.

    The Russell 2000 Index, which tracks the stocks of smaller U.S. companies, dropped by 5.3%.

    […] It’s shaping up to be a second straight day of turmoil on trading floors. On Thursday, the S&P had its worst day since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the biggest names falling Friday were Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle maker Tesla (down about 10%), farm equipment giant Caterpillar (down about 6%) and market-leading AI chipmaker Nvidia (down about 7%).

    […] Heavy selling in markets around the globe preceded the U.S. declines. European stocks veered toward a correction, having now declined 10% from recent highs. Asian markets also cratered.

    […] Early Friday, China unveiled 34% duties on goods brought in from the U.S. in response to Trump raising taxes on U.S. importers of Chinese goods by as much as 79%.

    […] Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities financial group, wrote in a note Friday morning that Trump’s tariffs will lead to “economic Armageddon” if not dialed back.

    “Never have we … seen a self-inflicted debacle of epic proportions like the Trump tariff slate over the last 36 hours,” he wrote.

    JPMorgan analysts published a research note titled “There will be blood” and raised their odds of a global recession to 60% due to White House trade policies. […]

  86. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: Lynna @76: “I have always loved libraries.”

    I’m hoping the podcast Welcome to Nightvale will do something special for the flesh-hungry librarians, when the writers catch up to current events. Googling transcripts indicates they last featured prominently in an episode last February (“The New Branch“).

  87. JM says

    MSN: Inside President Trump’s whirlwind decision to blow up global trade

    After weeks of work, aides from several government agencies produced a menu of options meant to account for a wide range of trading practices, according to three people familiar with the matter.
    Instead, Trump personally selected a formula that was based on two simple variables — the trade deficit with each country and the total value of its U.S. exports, said two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount internal talks….

    So Trump did get a competent analysis of trade restrictions and tariffs along with well designed options to deal with them. He then ignored that and went with the stupid simple analysis and plan because he understood it.

    After deliberations that went late into Tuesday, Trump didn’t decide on the final plan until about 1 p.m. Wednesday — less than three hours ahead of his Rose Garden announcement.

    That explains why nobody seemed to have any idea what was coming, how to prepare or what to say ahead of time. It’s because nobody did, he only made the decision a few hours before the press conference.

    Inside and outside the White House, advisers say Trump is unbowed even as the world reels from the biggest increase in trade hostilities in a century. They say Trump is unperturbed by negative headlines or criticism from foreign leaders. He is determined to listen to a single voice — his own — to secure what he views as his political legacy.
    “He’s at the peak of just not giving a f— anymore,” said a White House official with knowledge of Trump’s thinking. “Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f—. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.”

    Having selected and committed to the plan himself he doesn’t care what anybody else thinks. Changing course now would mean admitting he was wrong and that is something Trump hates to do. Worse, he is now surrounded by advisors and officials that will agree with anything he says and implement any plan he hands out.

  88. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Follow-up on North Carolina’s State Supreme Court race, last seen in December.

    The Griffin List – A searchable list of contested voters, so they can proactively contact the Board of Elections to fix problems and try to get counted.
     
    Bad news, for now.
    Republican Jefferson Griffin wins NC appeals court challenge

    a case that could determine the outcome of last year’s election for an open seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. If the ruling stands, the State Board of Elections would be required to ask more than 60,000 voters to provide proof of their identity. Anyone who doesn’t respond will have their ballot thrown out
    […]
    Griffin, who is a judge on the Court of Appeals, challenged Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs for her seat on the high court. Recounts showed that Riggs received 734 more votes than Griffin. But the winner of the race hasn’t been made official, while Griffin challenges the voters’ registration and the validity of their ballots. […] He didn’t challenge all of the ballots that fell into those contested categories. Instead, he primarily targeted voters from certain demographics and counties that lean Democratic.
    […]
    The North Carolina State Board of elections rejected Griffin’s initial challenge, with board chairman Alan Hirsch calling Griffin’s efforts “anathema to the democratic system.” Griffin challenged the board’s decision in court; he lost at trial in Wake County Superior Court before taking his case to the Court of Appeals. […] With Riggs having also recused herself, there’s a chance the remaining six members of the state Supreme Court could deadlock at 3-3 in the decision. If that happens, the most recent ruling would stand. […] An election victory for Griffin would shift the Supreme Court to a 6-1 GOP majority.
    […]
    Most of the voters in this case are being challenged because the state’s database of voter registrations doesn’t include information it is required to have about them, such as driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers. In other cases there are misspelled names or a missing hyphen for a name that should be hyphenated.
    […]
    The elections board says Griffin’s entire argument is moot because, in order to cast a ballot, the voters all had to either show their photo ID or provide their Social Security number on an exception form. So even if their information isn’t included in a spreadsheet, the state argues, elections officials still verified those voters’ identities.

    Griffin has also not been able to point to any cases of real or suspected fraud in the election, but he has argued that shouldn’t matter. The lack of information in the spreadsheet alone is enough to throw out the ballots, he says.

    The appellate judges agreed. They wrote in Friday’s ruling that they felt they had the power to simply throw out all the ballots and disallow people from trying to fix the issues. But they said they’d give the voters the chance to correct the errors.

    State officials say those voters shouldn’t be punished for mistakes made by other people

  89. Reginald Selkirk says

    Microsoft employee disrupts 50th anniversary and calls AI boss ‘war profiteer’

    A Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event to protest its use of AI.

    “Shame on you,” said Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, speaking directly to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands. How dare you all celebrate when Microsoft is killing children. Shame on you all.”

    Sources at Microsoft tell The Verge that shortly after Aboussad was ushered out of Microsoft’s event, she sent an email to a number of email distribution lists that contain hundreds or thousands of Microsoft employees. Here is Aboussad’s email in full:
    …
    According to AP news, there is “a $133 million contract between Microsoft and Israel’s Ministry of Defense.”

    “The Israeli military’s usage of Microsoft and OpenAI artificial intelligence spiked last March to nearly 200 times higher than before the week leading up to the Oct. 7 attack. The amount of data it stored on Microsoft servers doubled between that time and July 2024 to more than 13.6 petabytes.”

    “The Israeli military uses Microsoft Azure to compile information gathered through mass surveillance, which it transcribes and translates, including phone calls, texts and audio messages, according to an Israeli intelligence officer who works with the systems. That data can then be cross-checked with Israel’s in-house targeting systems.”

    Microsoft AI also powers the most “sensitive and highly classified projects” for the Israeli military, including its “target bank” and the Palestinian population registry. Microsoft cloud and AI enabled the Israeli military to be more lethal and destructive in Gaza than they otherwise could.
    …

  90. Reginald Selkirk says

    Hackers Strike Australia’s Largest Pension Funds in Coordinated Attacks

    Hackers targeting Australia’s major pension funds in a series of coordinated attacks have stolen savings from some members at the biggest fund, Reuters is reporting, citing a source, and compromised more than 20,000 accounts. From the report:

    National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness said in a statement she was aware of “cyber criminals” targeting accounts in the country’s A$4.2 trillion ($2.63 trillion) retirement savings sector and was organising a response across the government, regulators and industry. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, the industry body, said “a number” of funds were impacted over the weekend. While the full scale of the incident remains unclear, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, Rest, Insignia and Hostplus on Friday all confirmed they suffered breaches.

  91. says

    Sky Captain @88, the Republicans are looking for a way, any way no matter how unethical, to say that their guy won. He didn’t win, but it looks like they are going to say he did, and then they’ll give him the seat on North Carolina’s State Supreme Court. Very discouraging.

  93. says

    Trump’s tariffs are costing his rich pals billions

    The billionaires who gleefully bought front-row seats to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January seem to now be living out a horror movie—except, instead of dying, they’re bleeding billions from their fortunes.

    Trump’s reckless economic policies were already scorching their portfolios, but his retaliatory tariffs this week have sent the stock market into a free fall, dragging his new buddies’ personal wealth down with it.

    The 500 richest people in the world lost a combined $208 billion on Thursday due to the stock crash that Trump caused, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. And one of the biggest losers is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose fortune shrank by $15.9 billion after Amazon shares tanked 9% on Thursday, giving the company its worst day since April 2022.

    Somehow, though, even that got eclipsed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who lost a staggering $17.9 billion in one day, or about 9% of his total net worth.

    And then there’s Trump’s “first buddy” Elon Musk, whose ride-or-die status with the White House has been as volatile as his social media feed. Musk has lost $110 billion this year, including a loss of $11 billion on Thursday alone. (His car company, Tesla, is already in rough shape.)

    Of course, everyday Americans are feeling the pain too. […]

    According to Bloomberg’s index, other casualties in Trump’s economic massacre include Google co-founder Sergey Brin (down $4.5 billion in a single day), Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison (down $8.1 billion), and Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson and right-wing media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who lost $942 million and $590 million, respectively.

    […] Trump, as always, remains delusional. “I think it’s going very well,” he said Thursday of his tariff policy. Then, on Friday, he doubled down in a post on his Truth Social platform, claiming his economic vision will “NEVER CHANGE.”

    “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!” he added.

    But his billionaire friends probably aren’t exactly popping champagne over that one.

  94. says

    Divided Supreme Court sides with Trump to block teacher grants

    A divided Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration by allowing officials to block $65 million in teacher development grants frozen over concerns they were promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices.

    The 5-4 emergency ruling, for now, lifts a lower order that forced the Education Department to resume the grants in eight Democratic-led states that are suing.

    Five of the court’s six conservatives sided with the administration to grant the request. Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberal justices dissented.

    The decision is not a final ruling in the case, and the dispute could ultimately return to the Supreme Court. Friday’s order enables the administration to keep the grants blocked until any appeals are resolved.

    “Respondents have represented in this litigation that they have the financial wherewithal to keep their programs running. So, if respondents ultimately prevail, they can recover any wrongfully withheld funds through suit in an appropriate forum,” the majority said it its unsigned ruling.

    […] the court’s three liberals chastised the majority for getting involved at the early stage of the case.

    “The risk of error increases when this Court decides cases—as here—with barebones briefing, no argument, and scarce time for reflection,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a two-paragraph solo dissent.

    “[…] in my view, nothing about this case demanded our immediate intervention. Rather than make new law on our emergency docket, we should have allowed the dispute to proceed in the ordinary way.”

    In a much lengthier dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said it was “beyond puzzling” that the majority viewed the dispute as an emergency.

    “This Court’s eagerness to insert itself into this early stage of ongoing litigation over the lawfulness of the Department’s actions—even when doing so facilitates the infliction of significant harms on the Plaintiff States, and even though the Government has not bothered to press any argument that the Department’s harm‐causing conduct is lawful—is equal parts unprincipled and unfortunate. It is also entirely unwarranted,” Jackson wrote.

    […] The states, whose lawsuit alleges applicable regulations don’t permit the administration to stop the grant programs, noted the lower ruling is temporary and normally not appealable.

    “The district court acted appropriately in granting a narrow and time-limited restraining order while it proceeds to a prompt ruling on the motion for a preliminary injunction. There is no sound basis for this Court to stay or vacate that order,” the states wrote.

    […] A similar case filed by private education groups remains at a mid-level appeals court. […]

  95. says

    […] The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a loss of 2,231 points Friday, plunging 5.5 percent on the day. The S&P 500 index plummeted by 6 percent, and the Nasdaq composite sank 5.8 percent on the day. […]

    Link

  96. says

    NBC News:

    A federal judge ordered the detained Tufts University student’s petition for her release to be transferred from Massachusetts to Vermont. U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper for Massachusetts denied the government’s motion to dismiss the petition and its alternative request to transfer it to the Western District of Louisiana, where the student, Rumeysa Öztürk, is currently detained.

  97. says

    New York Times:

    The Trump administration has failed to disburse congressionally approved funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the news network originally set up to counter Soviet propaganda during the Cold War, despite a judge’s order to keep it operating, according to court filings and officials at the news organization.

  98. says

    New York Times:

    The Trump administration intends to block $510 million in federal contracts and grants for Brown University, expanding its campaign to hold universities accountable for what it says is relentless antisemitism on campus, according to two White House officials familiar with the plans. Brown became the fifth university known to face a potentially dire loss of federal funding, leaving other universities that the administration has targeted wondering when their turn might come.

  99. says

    NBC News:

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration’s new envoy to NATO are seeking to reassure wary NATO allies of the U.S. commitment to the alliance. Rubio on Thursday decried ‘hysteria and hyperbole’ in the media about President Donald Trump’s intentions despite persistent signals from Washington that NATO as it has existed for 75 years may no longer be relevant.

  100. says

    FFS.

    “Republicans are independently minded. Democrats are monolithic sheep that follow the Fuhrer Schumer’s orders,” said Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio.

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is the highest-ranking Jewish lawmaker in the history of the U.S. Congress, which made it all the more notable when Donald Trump — who is not Jewish — told reporters last month, in reference to [Schumer], “He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore.”

    […], there’s an inherent antisemitism in rhetoric like this: It is simply not up to Trump to decide who the “real” Jews are based on his personal whims or officials’ willingness to go along with his agenda.

    Three weeks later, it appears one of the president’s allies on Capitol Hill decided to go even further. The Columbus Dispatch reported:

    U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, called the Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer — the highest-ranking Jewish U.S. elected official — ‘Fuhrer,’ a reference to the title used by Adolf Hitler. Moreno, who was elected in November, made the comment to reporters outside the Senate chamber as members of his caucus struggled to agree on a path forward to try to pass President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut agenda.

    “Here’s the main thing you’ve got to understand. Republicans are independently minded. Democrats are monolithic sheep that follow the Fuhrer Schumer’s orders,” Moreno said.

    Asked about the comment, Schumer said “Look, let me say this. What Sen. Moreno did is absolutely despicable. It’s antisemitic, plain and simple. It’s outrageous. I lost lots of people in the Holocaust to Hitler. And for him to use those words, first, we demand he apologize immediately, but we also demand that his Republican colleagues start denouncing him on something that is so blatantly antisemitic.”

    Moreno, three months into his career in public office, appears to have burned a bridge that won’t soon be mended.

    But I’m also stuck on how little Moreno seems to understand about the contemporary American political parties and their members. As the rookie senator sees it, Republicans are “independent” thinkers, while Democrats are “monolithic sheep”?

    Even if we put aside the obvious offensiveness of Moreno’s use of the word “Fuhrer” — especially in reference to the highest-ranking Jewish lawmaker in the history of the Congress — it’s hard not to notice that he seems to describe an alternate reality with no relationship to our own.

  101. says

    […] The White House embraced a misguided policy on tariffs; it defended the policy with a formula rooted in faux sophistication; and everyone who knows what they’re talking about quickly recognized the unavoidable fact that the administration’s metrics are effectively gibberish.

    CNBC’s Steve Liesman told viewers, “Nobody ever heard of this formula. Nobody’s ever used this formula. So, I’m sorry, but the conclusion seems to be the president kind of made this up as he went along.” Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the conservative American Action Forum, told the Washington Post, “They’ve got an indefensible foundation to an indefensible policy.”

    Ian Dunt, a British journalist, added in reference to the White House’s methodology, “It’s hard to state just how nonsensical that actually is. You might as well divide the numbers of apples in your kitchen by the number of bagels and use it to calculate your mortgage rate. To criticize it on political or economic grounds is too generous. It operates below the level of rational thought.”

    […] It’s the worst possible combination of conditions: We’re left with a bad policy, based on a bad formula, embraced by indifferent officials who don’t know what they’re doing, but who are in positions of enormous power.

    Link

    An illustration showing the mathematical formula is available at the link.

  102. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/trumps-tariffs-send-stock-market

    “Trump’s Tariffs Send Stock Market Into Tailspin, And Fox News Is NOT ON IT”

    “The nation is in for economic ruin, and Fox News hopes you won’t notice.”

    Do you remember the Before Times — as in before Thursday — when the United States, for all its flaws, had not yet fully committed itself to a path towards economic and hegemonic suicide in the most stupid act of geopolitical self-harm since Napoleon looked east towards Russia and said, “Come on now, winters there can’t be that bad”?

    […] Trump […] said fuck it, let’s tariff the hell out of every nation on Earth except our suddenly great allies Russia and Belarus, upend the almost-century-long world economic order that has led to levels of prosperity for America unseen by any nation in recorded history […]

    The markets and the rest of the planet reacted as predictably as literally anyone with a functional brain stem could have told the MAGA Right it would. World leaders denounced the US and started contemplating trade pacts that would completely exclude America. Economists everywhere drank themselves into comas just before tariffs on booze imports make the cost of French wine and tequila far too pricey for their salaries.

    But you would not know any of that if you get all your news from Fox. The right-wing network spent its day […] doing all it could to hide the damage from its viewers. If you turned on Fox or navigated to the home page of its website, you might have been unaware that your 401k was losing value like it was a copy of Action Comics #1 that someone just set on fire: [social medial post at the link showing that Fox removed the stock market ticker from their broadcasts]

    We’ve watched a lot of Fox News over the years, and we can say that the stock market ticker comes and goes. But is there any doubt the network would have showed it if stocks had gone soaring? Of course not.

    But because tariffs are bad policy that are dropping the value of Americans’ retirement funds, we get this message instead: The Golden Age is starting! No need to check, just trust us on this!

    Fox spent the day alternating between this sort of context- and information-free soothing, and trying to distract its viewers with its usual culture war tripe. For example, here is Harris Faulkner on her midday show bringing viewers the news that really matters: [Social media post shows Harris Faulkner talking about trans athletes]

    […] Stephanie Turner, was supposed to face off against a transgender woman. She instead took a knee and was awarded a black card, which in fencing is a penalty resulting in disqualification.

    Would you be surprised to learn that Turner is a Christian? You wouldn’t? Good for you:

    Despite the repercussions, Turner told OutKick that her Christian faith led her to take a stand against unfair competition.

    “I prayed to God and I just asked him for guidance and I called members of my church to help me to figure out what I wanted to do,” Turner said.

    Turner said that, in the past, she would simply avoid events that had transgender fencers competing. But in this case, she decided to leave it in God’s hands.

    Ah, so she specifically went in with the intention of making a point and getting herself some sympathetic coverage in right-wing media, including at least one hit on Fox News itself. Good to know.

    “I prayed, and I said, ‘God, if this is something that you want me to do, please put Redmond in my pool round or my direct elimination and I will take a knee. But, if this is not something that you want me to do, then… show me by not having… he and I fence face-to-face,’” she said.

    Of course, Turner and Sullivan were eventually paired against one another and Turner followed through with her protest.

    Congrats to Fox viewers. When their retirement accounts show a balance of zero, at least they can keep themselves warm with the rage of knowing that amateur fencing competitions allow transgender people to compete.

    […] If you flipped over to Fox Business with the thought that surely a business channel would be more honest, well, close. FBN did keep the stock ticker up all day. It also ran long segments in which its anchors praised Trump’s bravery, engaged in some xenophobia against China, and all but begged everyone to accept some suffering now in exchange for an imagined future where centuries of hard-earned economic knowledge turn out to be wrong and Donald Trump turns out to be right […]

    We’re not sure how higher prices are going to help people spend less of their paychecks, but we’re not the sorts of business geniuses that get hired by the Fox empire.

    By Thursday night, we guess it was getting a little tough for Fox to hide the day’s financial news, so it resorted to stuff like having Laura Ingraham go full-on “Kevin Bacon screaming ‘All is well’ at the end of ‘Animal House’”: [social media post at the link]

    Don’t panic, Dear Leader is right and every economist on the planet is wrong. Thanks, Baghdad Barb.

    Meanwhile, American companies started announcing layoffs that they tied directly to Trump’s tariffs hurting their businesses and giving them a need to retrench. Sorry to the newly jobless, but just think: In six months or a year or a decade or an eon or some unknowable length of time in between, something great will happen. Maybe. Probably. Probably maybe.

    See you in the shantytowns!

  103. says

    Elon Musk’s troubles:

    […] The European Union is considering fining Musk one billion, with a b, for the way he’s let disinformation promulgate on his hellsite. He’s getting sued by Twitter shareholders, accused of stock manipulation.

    He’s being sued by groups representing Social Security beneficiaries over DOGE cuts there, and the US African Development Foundation, and about 20 other groups for DOGE things, and, of course, the fourth lady he allegedly made a mother.

    Starlink contracts are getting cancelled all over Canada, and Germany is funding access for Ukraine to a satellite-internet network operated by France’s Eutelsat. [Good news.]

    […] But don’t cry for him, Muskintina, […] there will be lots of government contracts to be had for industrialist best-friendsies. Teslas use the least amount of foreign parts, and EV tax credits are still on the books, so Teslas may soon be cheaper than every other car by comparison, even if there’s nowhere to charge them and they have a way of trapping people inside while they burn alive, and self-crashing.

    […] MAYBE MAYBE MAYBE there will be a time in the near-ish future where we don’t have to hear about what dumb shit his DOGE AI accidentally-on-purpose broke into/ cut/ destroyed, every single day, and judges will successfully kick those kids the ef out.

    That would be ever so nice! We can dream!

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/elon-musk-peace-out

  104. says

    Texas measles outbreak nears 500 cases as virus spreads among day care kids

    “At least 6 children at a single child care facility in Lubbock have tested positive for measles.”

    Six young children at a Lubbock, Texas, day care center have tested positive for measles — a dreaded scenario with the potential to accelerate an already out-of-control outbreak that has spread to at least two other states.

    More than a dozen other states and Washington, D.C. are dealing with cases of measles unrelated to Texas.

    On Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said the toll rose to 481 confirmed cases, a 14% jump over last week. Fifty-six people have been hospitalized in the area since the disease started spreading in late January.

    At the Tiny Tots U Learning Academy, a center with approximately 230 infants, toddlers and preschool-age children, the outbreak began on March 24, when a little girl who had been sick with fever and vomiting tested positive. She later needed to be hospitalized for pneumonia and trouble breathing.

    Kids who have tested positive at the day care so far are between the ages of 5 months and 3 years old, said Maegan Messick, a co-owner of the center. None was fully vaccinated against measles.

    For nearly two weeks, Messick has been working with local health officials who are in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the situation. Messick said she’s not been given clear guidance on how to handle measles in such a large day care with so many vulnerable kids.

    […] According to an NBC News tally, 628 measles cases have been reported nationally in 2025. Other states with outbreaks include Kansas with 23 cases, Oklahoma with 10 cases, and New Mexico with 54 cases. Public health officials in Ohio have identified 17.

    […] Messick said she and her staff are trying to reduce risk of further spread by watching kids closely for symptoms and isolating certain classrooms.

    They’re also urging other child care facilities to encourage their families to get the MMR vaccine. Families who choose not to vaccinate their children have been asked to keep them home for at least 21 days.

    Two doses are almost always enough to give lifetime protection against measles, according to the CDC. Unvaccinated people who are exposed to the virus are almost certain to become infected. […]

  105. says

    Tomorrow, Saturday April 5th, people will be gathering in protest of the Trump-Musk regime all around the nation (and the world!). Jen Rubin and co-founder of Indivisible, Ezra Levin, discuss why this is the right moment, why people are fed up, and how we can demand accountability from the wealthy and powerful.

    Ezra Levin is the co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, a grassroots organization made up of thousands of group leaders and more than a million members taking regular, iterative, and increasingly complex actions to resist the GOPs agenda, elect local champions, and fight for progressive policies.

    Link

    Video at the link.

  108. Reginald Selkirk says

    Trump hosting $1 million a person super PAC dinner as stocks sink over tariffs

    I presume cake will be on the menu.

    As stocks continued to slide after markets opened, President Trump is speaking at a $1 million dollar-a-person candlelight dinner Friday at Mar-a-Lago, according to an invitation reviewed by CBS News. The fundraiser is for MAGA Inc, a super PAC that supports Mr. Trump.

    MAGA Inc. can raise unlimited money but is barred from coordinating directly with Mr. Trump’s campaign arm. The fine print for the Friday’s invitation says the president is attending as a guest speaker and not soliciting donations.

    Another $1 million-a-head MAGA Inc. dinner is scheduled for April 24 in Washington, according to the invitation. Donors can “co-host” that dinner for $2.5 million or become a “host” for $5 million.

    On Thursday, a day after Trump announced worldwide tariffs, the president attended a LIV Golf dinner in Miami ahead of a three-day LIV tournament taking place at Trump National Doral…

  109. says

    Reginald @108: “I presume cake will be on the menu.”
    LOL. Bitterly, but LOL

    Related, here are some excerpts from Susan Glasser’s “Donald Trump’s Ego Melts the Global Economy,” written for The New Yorker.

    […] Amid the chaos of eviscerated retirement savings, blown-up supply chains, and pissed-off allies, perhaps it’s a mistake to linger on just how wrong America’s business establishment continues to be about Trump. But, wow, has this been a case of near-catastrophic wishful thinking. [I agree.] And I think it speaks to much of what we are still not understanding about the ways in which Trump’s second term is off to a darker, more dangerous start than his first. “What’s striking to me is not just that Wall Street so badly underestimated downside risk—it’s that they piled all-in on post-election euphoria that assumed, contrary to all reporting, the tariffs wouldn’t happen,” Jeff Stein, the Washington Post’s economics reporter, wrote Thursday morning on X.

    But, of course, the real mistake has little to do with global trade policy, and much to do with a failed theory of the case about Trump. There is no rational analysis that would lead one to the conclusion that a President would single-handedly decide to blow up a century’s worth of globalization on a chilly Wednesday afternoon in April. I thought a response to Stein from Garry Kasparov, the international chess champion turned modern-day Russian dissident, was particularly revealing. Kasparov attributed the failure to anticipate Trump’s trade war to an epic level of denial about the President’s Vladimir Putin-like brand of autocratic personality disorder—after all, Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine did not make much sense, either, to many of those presented with irrefutable evidence that he was planning it. Instead, Kasparov suggested a maxim for our unhappy times: “Dictators always lie about what they’ve done, but are often quite plain about what they want to do.”

    […] In this new political moment of the unthinkable made manifest, the sheer power rush for Trump should also not be underestimated. Imagine his joy as he sat down to sign an executive order decreeing the new tariffs on the basis of sweeping powers he may or may not legally possess to declare a “national economic emergency”—here was Trump transforming the world with a single flourish of his Sharpie pen. “It’s such an honor to be finally able to do this,” he said. At what other moment in modern times has a single man wielded so much unaccountable power over such a large swath of the world economy? There are whole businesses devoted to risk analysis for corporations; this is a situation in which Trump himself is the risk and the crisis being analyzed is one that he created. Talk about an ego trip.

    Beyond a misunderstanding of Trump’s psychology, there are a few other telling conclusions to be drawn from all this. One is about the maximalist approach the President has taken to his second term. […] Trump 2.0 has shown a striking willingness to act on his most disruptive ideas. This seems to have surprised many who assessed his rhetoric as just more hype likely to fall prey to the same institutional constraints and poor execution that hampered Trump in his first term. By such logic, the fact that Trump had not succeeded in gutting federal agencies or blowing up the global economic order at the end of his first four years in office was proof that he would not do so this time, either. Oops. […]

  110. says

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell:

    Looking ahead, higher tariffs will be working their way through our economy and are likely to raise inflation in coming quarters. We face a highly uncertain outlook with elevated risks of both higher unemployment and higher inflation,” he said. “While uncertainty remains elevated, it is now becoming clear that tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected. And the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth.

    Commentary:

    […] Powell mentioned inflation more than 36 times during his speech […]

    Powell’s tenure at the reserve is up in 2026, but according to an April 2024 Wall Street Journal report, Trump’s goon squad has been secretly working up plans to “blunt the Fed’s independence,” in an attempt to give the executive branch control over interest rates. […]

    Link

  111. says

    Governor Newsom reportedly negotiating with foreign countries to bypass Trump tariffs. Mentioned in article excerpted here that California needs lumber to rebuild after massive fires. Quick search shows California to have 5th largest economy in the WORLD.

    In a post on X, Newsom addressed the U.S.’s global trading partners, writing “California is here and ready to talk.”

    It comes after a Fox News report revealed that Newsom is directing his state to pursue “strategic” relationships with countries announcing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., urging them to exclude California-made products from those taxes. […]

    A Newsom official also told Fox News that the new Trump tariffs will hinder access to essential supplies, like construction materials, needed to rebuild after the Los Angeles wildfires. The U.S. currently imposes a 14 percent duty on Canadian lumber, with the rate possibly rising to nearly 27 percent this year. […]

    California, the world’s fifth-largest economy, plays a crucial role in driving U.S. economic growth. As the largest importer and second-largest exporter among U.S. states, with over $675 billion in two-way trade, it holds significant economic influence. Therefore, Trump’s tariffs could have a major impact, potentially increasing costs for California businesses, disrupting global supply chains, and putting pressure on vital industries within the state.

    Link

  112. says

    UK joined European officials at secret dinner to plot radical rearmament fund

    “A supranational bank would sidestep the European Commission, involve the British, and allow defense-spending off the balance sheet.”

    British officials met select European allies at a discreet dinner in Brussels last week to hatch plans for a new defense fund designed to sidestep the European Commission, keep a lid on public debt and rearm faster.

    The off-the-books gathering brought together senior finance ministry officials from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Poland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to float the idea of creating a supranational bank specifically for the purpose of jointly buying weapons and slashing the cost of defense procurement, according to officials familiar with the matter.

    The secret gathering was hosted by Poland, according to one EU official, granted anonymity to speak freely about the confidential discussions, like others quoted in this story.

    At the center of the pitch was a proposal from the U.K. Treasury, detailed in a discussion paper seen by POLITICO, that would allow participating governments to avoid booking the upfront capital cost of military kit in their national budget, which would be of huge benefit to countries with tight spending rules.

    With […] Trump distancing the U.S. from the protection of Europe as he warms ties with Russia, governments are scrambling to rapidly increase investment in defense, and in many cases aim to go beyond NATO’s target of spending 2 percent of economic output. However they have a delicate balance to strike because of self-imposed restrictions on public spending.

    […] Circumventing the European Commission

    The scheme would allow the new fund to directly purchase weapons on behalf of members — a power the EU’s lender, the European Investment Bank, currently lacks — aiming to tap a dedicated pool of investors comfortable with backing the defense sector.

    […] key questions remain unanswered, including how the proposed institution would be governed or who would ultimately make decisions — a critical detail given the aim of operating outside the Commission’s remit.

    The U.K. isn’t the only one eyeing alternatives, however. Poland, currently holding the EU Council presidency, has asked the Bruegel think tank to draw up its own version of a “rearmament bank,” which will be discussed at an informal finance ministers’ gathering in Warsaw on Saturday.

    “That shows the appetite to look into a mechanism like this,” said a second EU diplomat.

    More details at the link.

  113. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    ABC – DOGE arrives at Peace Corps

    staff have been informed that members of the DOGE team will be on site and working through the weekend, and should be granted access to internal systems. Staff have also been instructed to assist the team in setting up internal accounts […] Employees have been told to retain records of all DOGE requests and were told that “equivalent datasets” may be provided in lieu of direct system access

     
    Chris Williamson (HS history teacher):

    Returned Peace Corps Volunteer here. If there is one thing Peace Corps volunteers know how to do, is to organize with minimal resources. RPCVs, now is the time to do the work we have always done to save the work we have done to make sure it continues.

    Rando 1: “Peace Corps costs about $400 million out of a federal budget of $1.8 trillion—0.02% if my math is right. But hey, just ignore the $850 billion DOD budget and target the peace guys for cuts!”

    Nate Ela (Law Prof):

    This is just stupid if you actually care about soft power or efficiency.
    We PCVs come dirt cheap. And the level of [US] praising that happened when i revisited my site in Mozambique five years after leaving was honestly kind of embarrassing. But of course DOGE is just about burning it all down, not efficiency or muricah first.

    Rando (RPCV): “Most of those PCVs can’t afford what is usually an expensive plane ticket home, and their communities can’t easily replace them as teachers.”

    Rando (parent of an RPCV): “Wait until they strand some young adults in foreign counties similar to how they handled USAID employees… parents will lose their minds”

    Rando 2: “Peace Corps kids are basically working for free in remote areas as best American diplomats.”

    Rando 3: “Not just kids! I know a guy in his 70s who still works with the Peace Corps. They go into Afghanistan and Iraq and help suffering people. Nothing is more noble.”
     
    Rando 4: “DOGE is just going to show up in Greenland and start plugging in laptops, aren’t they?”

  114. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket):

    Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins sent an email to employees this afternoon announcing a Reduction in Force (RIF) “of up to 15% from the roughly 470,000 full-time equivalent employees we currently have, to roughly 398,000 employees” + offering Deferred Resignation.

    Rando: “They already fired “non-essential personnel” like maintenance, janitorial, logistics, and suicide hotline workers. Who are they going to fire now?”
     
    WaPo – IRS will cut 25% of its employees, eliminating its civil rights office

    “This action is being taken to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the IRS,” one email viewed by The Post said.
    […]
    It’s unclear whether the expected reduction in force includes the 11,000 employees who have already left the agency through layoffs and deferred resignation offers. The IRS employed about 100,000 people in January.

     
    WaPo – A stunning number of electric vehicle, battery factories are being canceled

    Chris Hayes: “This is part of what’s so insane. As they talk about re-shoring and manufacturing they are actively trying to destroy an entire us manufacturing industry that already exists.”

  115. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    WaPo – Trump administration accidentally tells some Ukrainians to leave country

    an urgent notice this week to some Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion saying it was terminating their provisional legal status in seven days and ordering them to leave the United States “immediately,”
    […]
    “A message was sent in error to some Ukrainians” who entered the United States under the Uniting for Ukraine program, said [the DHS spox.] the “parole program has not been terminated.” […] Many Ukrainians have since [entering the US via parole] obtained temporary protected status, which is not set to expire until October 2026.
    […]
    “It is time for you to leave the United States,” the notice began, and warned that if they failed to heed the notice, “The federal government will find you.”
    […]
    “Telling Ukrainians they have to return to an active war zone in seven days or face criminal prosecution is unconscionable,”

    Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket):

    WaPo: The terse and threatening email […] leaving parents shaken and children in tears.

    Fuck these fucking people.

    Screenshots of both the threat and oops emails at the link.

  116. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Good news.

    Kyle Cheney (Politico):

    A federal judge just reinstated the head of the Inter-American Foundation, booted Pete Marocco and voided all his decisions.

    Judge AliKhan says it would be meaningles to reinstate IAF’s director only to preside over a “pile of rubble.”

    Judge: The current, ostensible leadership of the IAF intends to fire every employee except one by the end of the day today. And all of the organization’s grants—save a single agreement for $66,000—have been canceled. […] To argue that the IAF remains functioning when it has one employee, one grant, and little else is comically difficult to believe.

    Rando: “Ok. Do Trump next.”

  117. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    An order to retrieve someone from El Salvador.

    A Judge found Kilmar Abrego Garcia was apprehended without basis, and ordered his return to the US by 11:59 on Monday.

    The WH Press Sec was snide about it. Bukele posted a confused bunny on Twitter.

    Cristian Farias (Legal journalist):

    Courts have power to do this.
    In the Alien Enemies Act case before Judge Boasberg, the plaintiffs included a lengthy list of examples, including from the first Trump administration, where courts ordered wrongfully deported people returned to the U.S.

    Gabriel Malor (Appellate attorney):

    This is generally correct, but there’s an added wrinkle here. Abrego is a Salvadoran citizen, and El Salvador may not want to let him go—say, on criminal grounds?—regardless of what the U.S. asks for.

    For folks writing and talking about the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, be aware that under Spanish-language naming convention, he would be referred to commonly by his first surname “Abrego,” not “Garcia,” although his lawyers and the Court has been using the compound “Abrego Garcia.”

    Eric Columbus (Obama DHS/DoJ): “Bukele will respond however the Trump administration wants him to respond. This guy’s return has always been just a matter of Rubio picking up the phone.”

    Rando: “Bukele has a pretty big swagger for a country whose Air Force is literally a dozen armed Cessnas.”

  118. StevoR says

    Four space tourists, including an Australian polar adventurer, have returned to Earth after orbiting the north and south poles in a privately funded polar tour. Bitcoin investor Chun Wang chartered a SpaceX flight for himself and three others in a Dragon capsule that was outfitted with a domed window that provided 360-degree views of the polar caps and everything in between.

    … (Snip!)…

    The quartet, who rocketed from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre on Monday night (Tuesday morning AEDT), splashed down off the Southern California coast on Friday morning (Saturday morning AEDT).

    Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-05/spacex-polar-exploration-splash-down/105141654

  119. birgerjohansson says

    Farron Balanced:
    “Analysis Finds That Most Of Trump’s Executive Orders Don’t Even Make Sense”
    .https://youtube.com/watch?v=7fTbTKgZcnk

    He has gone from posting random thoughts on Truth Social to posting them as executive orders. Farron Cousins makes a case that this is age-related cognitive decline.

  120. John Morales says

    Four space tourists, including an Australian polar adventurer, have returned to Earth after orbiting the north and south poles in a privately funded polar tour.

    One could hardly think of a better use for the resources required for that cramped trip.

    If only there were a cheaper way to get a 360° view!

    (But hey, it’s like a cruise trip, only pricier and more uncomfortable, so surely worth it)

  121. birgerjohansson says

    John Morales @ 120
    Yes, while a capsule theoretically offers an incredible view, the very cramped capsule severely limits the experience. It would be like travelling in the trunk of a car, and watching the landscape while curled up inside. The 360° domed window might have had space for one passenger at a time to look out, but not more.

  124. John Morales says

    Most amusing, Silentbob.

    Cramped and encased in spacesuits.

    Because, of course, if one goes to space one should wear a space suit.

    Looks great.

    —

    BTW, when I mentioned resources, I did not mean units of comfort.

    (I meant infrastructure, concrete, metal ores, fossil fuels, that sort of thing)

  126. lumipuna says

    It’s been two years since Finland officially joined Nato – the national broadcaster Yle has posted some analyses and interviews (in Finnish) on that.

    https://yle.fi/a/74-20154004

    Here, foreign minister Elina Valtonen maintains that Nato membership remains a good deal for Finland, despite (in my own words, not hers) Donald Trump doing his best to spoil it.

    (Two years ago, some people here celebrated the idea that we could now finally ditch “finlandization”, or the practice of being overly tactful in foreign policy and domestic discourse toward certain powerful nations. Now, the government has been very careful about criticizing the US, while president Alexander Stubb is busy buddying up with Trump to remind him that Russia is the enemy.)

    This week, prime minister Petteri Orpo announced that Finland will increase its defense spending to 3% of the GDP by 2029, from the current 2.5%. Meanwhile, Trump is working hard to mitigate the amount required for that by suppressing the GDP growth of various countries across the world.

    Also this week, it was announced that Finland will resign from the 1997 Ottawa Treaty (which it joined in 2011) and return to using anti-personnel mines in national defense, together with some other eastern European Nato nations.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Treaty

  127. Reginald Selkirk says

    Senate GOP approves framework for Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts after late-night session

    Senate Republicans plugged away overnight and into early Saturday morning to approve their multitrillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts framework, hurtling past hardened Democratic opposition toward what President Donald Trump calls the “big, beautiful bill” that’s central to his agenda.

    The vote, 51-48, fell along mostly party lines, but with sharp dissent from two prominent GOP senators. It could not have come at a more difficult political moment. The U.S. economy is churning after Trump’s vast tariff scheme sent stocks plummeting, and experts are warning of soaring costs for consumers at home and threats of a potential recession. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky both voted against.

    But with a nod from Trump, GOP leaders held on, determined to march ahead. Approval paves the way for Republicans, in the months ahead, to try to power a tax cut bill through both chambers of Congress over the objections of Democrats, just as they did in Trump’s first term with unified party control in Washington.

    “Let the voting begin,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Friday night.

    If the fate of the country depends on Susan Collins’ iron will*, we are all in trouble.

    * ironic intent

  128. StevoR says

    The U.S. stock market is in a freefall after President Donald Trump announced his all encompassing tariffs earlier this week, and Trump is trying to crash the stock market on purpose—at least according to a video he reposted to social media Friday riddled with inaccuracies.

    … (Snip)..

    According to the video, which traces back to a March 15 post from a TikTok account with less than 18,000 followers, Trump is making a “wild chess move” and playing a “secret game” to “force” the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and refinance a chunk of the federal government’s $36 trillion in debt “very inexpensively.”

    To that theory’s credit, yields for U.S. Treasury notes, which are a starting point for loans from mortgages to corporate bonds, have collapsed this week, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell more than 10 basis points to a six-month low of 3.9%, which should translate to cheaper borrowing, but it’s arguably little more than a consolation prize if the U.S. sinks into a recession defined by higher inflation, cutting into consumer purchasing power, and far weaker corporate earnings from tariffs.

    Source : https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-shares-claim-he-s-crashing-stock-market-on-purpose-as-he-lobbies-for-emergency-rate-cuts/ar-AA1Cj0Ot

    Bold added.

  129. Reginald Selkirk says

    Donald Trump says ‘time to get rich’ as Dow Jones crash sparks recession fears

    …
    President Trump, however, seems to be determined to stand by his tariffs decision, dismissing the market crash as a “great time to get rich” and adding that his policies “will never change”. In a post on his own social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, “To the many investors coming into the United States and investing massive amounts of money, my policies will never change. This is a great time to get rich—richer than ever before!!!” in all caps.
    …

    The sudden drop in the markets would only be an opportunity for enrichment if
    1) The loss of value was temporary. Since he insists his policies will never change, the only other way that could work is if his policies are successful, which seems very unlikely.
    2) You had a pile of cash sitting around to buy those stocks during their temporary drop in value. Very few people have a pile of cash sitting around; a rare exception is Warren Buffett. But if all your money is already in stocks, it will shrink as the stocks do. This is the position someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos would be in.

  132. StevoR says

    @ ^ Bekenstein Bound : Huh?

    What “land mines” are you talking about there?

  133. StevoR says

    Good luck and best wishe sfor thsoe protesting peacefully today

    PEACEFUL PROTEST CHECKLIST
    For the National Protest – April 5

    Before You Go:

    • Tell a trusted friend your plans and check-in time
    • Fully charge your phone (+ bring a portable charger if possible)
    • Dress for comfort: closed-toe shoes, layers, sun protection
    • Avoid clothing with identifying logos unless intentional but bring an American Flag if you can

    Phone Safety:

    • Use passcode only (turn off fingerprint/Face ID)
    • Turn on airplane mode when not actively using phone
    • Disable location services if not needed
    • Back up your phone in advance

    What to Bring:

    • Water bottle
    • Light snacks (protein bar, fruit, etc.)
    • ID (but leave unnecessary items at home)
    • Small amount of cash
    • Face mask (health and privacy)
    • Notepad/pen (to write down names, details if needed)
    • Sign or banner (optional, keep it light and easy to carry)

    Mental Preparation:

    • Take a few deep breaths before leaving
    • Remind yourself of your purpose
    • Stay peaceful and composed, even if others aren’t

    During the Protest:

    • Stick with a group if you can
    • Stay aware of exits, surroundings, and crowd energy
    • Do not engage with agitators or provocation
    • Take photos/videos safely, especially if documenting events
    • If tensions rise or energy shifts, trust your instincts and leave calmly

    Afterward:

    • Let your contact know you’re safe
    • Drink water, eat something grounding
    • Give yourself space to reflect and decompress
    Stay safe. Stay strong. Stay grounded.
    Peaceful change is powerful change.

    Source : https://www.facebook.com/groups/50501movement/posts/995930222144307/

  134. birgerjohansson says

    A Different Bias 
    “Why America’s Reputation Will Not Survive This”
    .https://youtube.com/watch?v=COrd6uSAh0g
    .
    Sadly, this seems correct. The European leaders are not going to forget the wishful thinking of, first Russian agression and then USA political leadership. Nor will the other countries around the world.

  135. chigau (違う) says

    StevoR
    A number of countries close to Russia are pulling out of the landmine treaty.

  136. says

    https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

    Donald Trump blows off dignified transfer of fallen U.S. soldiers for golf events
    Video is 3:39 minutes

    Hundreds of protests planned as Trump’s abuses generate wide array of grievances
    Video is 4:03 minutes

    The ridiculous real story behind the tariff plan that turned Donald Trump into a global disaster
    Video is 12:01 minutes

  137. says

    https://www.msnbc.com/all
    Chris Hayes hosting.

    ‘Absurd’: Sen. Kim on MAGA conspiracist Laura Loomer’s White House influence
    Video is 7:30 minutes. Alarming Laura Loomer video at the beginning.

    Trump is ‘steering the Titanic towards the iceberg,’ says CNBC reporter
    Video is 9:22 minutes.

  138. says

    lumipuna @126, thanks for that update. I, for one, continue to think that Finland joining NATO was/is a good thing.

    I appreciate the dry humor in this statement:

    This week, prime minister Petteri Orpo announced that Finland will increase its defense spending to 3% of the GDP by 2029, from the current 2.5%. Meanwhile, Trump is working hard to mitigate the amount required for that by suppressing the GDP growth of various countries across the world.

  139. says

    GOP Tax Cuts Will Be Even More Expensive Than Anticipated

    Democrats are pointing to new projections from the Congressional Budget Service that shows the price tag for extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts will be higher than previously estimated.

    The new estimate says the tax cuts would all-in-all cost $5.5 trillion, up from the previous estimate of nearly $4 trillion.

    The new numbers come as Senate Republicans are plowing ahead with their plan to utilize an unprecedented “budget gimmick” to make portions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent. [See Reginald’s comment 127]

    The budget resolution text — that Senate GOP leadership put out on Wednesday — suggests Republicans plan to make up their own numbers and cost estimates as a way of shoehorning in the “current policy baseline,” in order to zero out the cost of their tax cuts and claim on paper that the extension will be costless.

    The Senate took the initial procedural vote on the budget resolution Thursday night — with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) being the only Republican to vote against the motion to proceed. A vote-a-rama is expected to begin Friday afternoon, which means by the time you’re reading this Senate Republicans could’ve already passed their second budget blueprint.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he wants to push for a vote on the Senate’s resolution as early as next week. But the almost inevitable resistance from hardliners in his conference could easily slow that timeline down.

  140. says

    Followup to StevoR @133.

    […] The “Hands Off!” rallies are taking place in more than 1,000 cities across all 50 states, and nearly 400,000 people have signed up to attend them, according to the progressive organization Indivisible, which is one of the almost 200 groups partnering to organize the movement. […]

    Link

    Related video at the link.

  142. says

    TikTok deal scuttled because of Trump’s tariffs on China

    “[Trump] had initially given China’s ByteDance until Saturday to sell or divest its U.S. TikTok business. The company now has 75 additional days.”

    Related video at the link.

    […] Trump on Friday said he would extend by 75 days the deadline for TikTok’s owner to find a non-Chinese buyer, averting what could have been another disruption of the app.

    […] ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, must find a non-Chinese buyer for the app or else it will be banned under a law passed in 2024. Trump had previously delayed the app’s ban via executive order on his first day in office, effectively giving ByteDance until April 5 — Saturday — to comply with the law.

    “My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.”

    ByteDance has previously said it did not plan to sell TikTok. It has largely remained silent about whether it is in talks with bidders and has not publicly confirmed it would divest at all.

    On Friday, a spokesperson for ByteDance said the company “has been in discussion with the U.S. Government regarding a potential solution for TikTok U.S. An agreement has not been executed. There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.”

    […] ByteDance representatives informed the White House on Thursday, after the tariffs were implemented, that China would not accept a deal until there could be negotiations around trade and tariffs […]

    […] In his Truth Social post, Trump referenced the tariffs, saying said the administration hopes “to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A.!). This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security!”

    […] TikTok’s future in the United States has been in limbo ever since former President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan legislation last year, with lawmakers citing national security concerns over the possibility of China accessing American users’ data.

    The app has about 170 million U.S. users.

    TikTok attempted to challenge the ban, but the Supreme Court upheld it in the final days of the Biden administration. […]

    The app briefly went dark in the U.S. just before Trump’s inauguration, but restored service after the president signaled that he would work with ByteDance to find a solution.

    […] Interested buyers include the likes of Wyoming entrepreneur Reid Rasner; Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who joined billionaire investor Frank McCourt’s bid; artificial intelligence search engine startup Perplexity AI; and former Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. On Wednesday, e-commerce giant Amazon and mobile technology company AppLovin became the latest companies to throw their hats in the ring.

  143. says

    Retirees ‘stunned’ as market turmoil over tariffs shrinks their 401(k)s

    Related video at the link.

    Americans nearing retirement and recent retirees said they were anxious and frustrated following a second day of market turmoil that hit their 401(k)s after […] Trump’s escalation of tariffs.

    As the impending tariffs shook the global economy Friday, people who were planning on their retirement accounts to carry them through their golden years said the economic chaos was hitting too close to home.

    Some said they are pausing big-ticket purchases and reconsidering home renovations, while others said they fear their quality of life will be adversely affected by all the turmoil. [I know my quality of life will be adversely affected. This is some trickle down shit that actually does trickle down to everyone.]

    […] Trump fulfilled his campaign promise this week to unleash sweeping tariffs, including on the United States’ largest trading partners, in a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war. […]

    As Wall Street reeled Friday after China hit back with tariffs against the U.S., millions of Americans with 401(k)s watched their retirement funds diminish along with the stock market.

    […] “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE,” Trump posted to social media Friday. Later, he wrote, “ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL.”

    Trump’s tariffs are steeper and more widespread than any in modern American history. They are potentially even broader than the tariffs of 1930 that historians said worsened the Great Depression.

    […] One in five Americans age 50 and over have no retirement savings, and more than half, 61%, are worried they will not have enough money to support them in retirement […]

  144. says

    ‘Life-threatening, catastrophic, and potentially historic’ flash flooding persists in South and Midwest

    “At least eight people have been killed in powerful storms that have swept through the region in the past week.”

    Related video at the link.

    A week of powerful storms that swept through the South and Midwest, killing at least eight people, is still wreaking significant havoc in the region this weekend.

    Severe weather, including a “life-threatening, catastrophic, and potentially historic” flash flooding event will continue to impact the lower Ohio Valley through to the Ark-La-Tex region (where Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas join together) on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Around 37 million people are under Flood Alerts from Texas to western Pennsylvania.

    “Deep moisture pooling along the front combined with impressive dynamics will set the stage for persistent rounds of intense thunderstorms capable of producing torrential downpours throughout the region,” the weather service said in an update Saturday morning. “This will especially be the case for the Ozarks and Mid-South, where the best moisture, instability, and forcing overlap.”

    The same areas that were hit hard by storms throughout the week could receive “repeated rounds of heavy rainfall,” leading to historic rainfall accumulations over saturated soils, the weather service said.

    Rainfall totals since Wednesday have surpassed 4 to 8 inches, with over 12 inches of rain reported in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. The highest rainfall report so far is 13.40 inches in Mayfield, Kentucky. Saturday is forecast to be the final day in this high impact flood event across the Mid-South and Mississippi Valley, with an additional 3 to 6 inches of rain possible by Sunday morning.

    […] “Unfortunately, the risk of major river flooding will likely continue into early next week, long after the last drop of rain has fallen,” the weather service said.

    This line of storms will move late Saturday, taking the heaviest rainfall eastward into portions of the Southeast on Sunday, according to the weather service. The front will still be capable of producing thunderstorms and flooding in the Southeast, but the risk of excessive rainfall will downgrade to a slight risk (around 15%) Sunday, and again to a marginal risk (at least 5%) by Monday. […]

  145. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: Lynna @140:

    “Hands Off!” rallies […] 400,000 people have signed up to attend

    The standard opsec advice for protests (like @133) kinda clashes with signing up to attend. It’s a floor estimate I guess, assuming most show up.

    I heard a drag queen saying she stumbled into a protest when she stopped at a gas station. Amusingly brought to mind the notion of a population of queens dressed to the nines idly doing errands as protests just spring up around them.

  146. says

    Democratic governor rips Trump for turning US into a bad reality show, an exclusive based on an interview with Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer.

    One day, Americans are being hit with […] Trump’s dreams of annexing Greenland, and the next, the U.S. government is creating a global trade war. Living in the United States in 2025 feels like an endless episode of a bad reality TV show. At least, that’s how Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer describes it.

    “It’s almost like we’re in ‘The Apprentice,’” the Democrat told Daily Kos in an exclusive interview. “We’re in this game show where there’s constant exciting, great headlines and Americans are just lurching from one headline to the next.”

    But just below the surface is a darker reality that Americans are living every day.

    “Our education system is getting destroyed,” Meyer said, referring to Trump’s attempts to completely dismantle the Department of Education.

    On April 3, the administration also threatened to pull funding to the country’s poorest public schools, and it has been slowly chipping away at funding for public universities that teach things Trump disagrees with. [video at the link]

    Meyer also emphasized how the U.S. health care system is on a downward spiral, to which the Trump administration has responded with even more massive layoffs and budget cuts.

    “We don’t need to take a chainsaw to the government, we need to make it work,” he told Daily Kos. “I think what Americans want is they actually want a government that works.[…]”

    “I bet you if Americans know … [they’re] getting the best schools in the world for those taxes, Americans will pay. Because there will be a return [on investment] to all of us if we know we’re paying for the highest quality health care,” he said.

    Meyer has already shaken things up on his own turf. In March, the governor proposed a 2026 budget that includes new tax brackets. placing some of the highest taxes on the wealthy that Delaware has ever seen.

    And while Meyer—like every other governor at the moment—is trying to protect his residents from the chaos at the federal level, he’s also struggling to hold onto the state’s largest source of revenue.

    As Daily Kos previously reported, Meyer has been under heat for creating a bill aimed at keeping businesses in Delaware. On one hand, critics called it a handout to billionaires. On the other hand, businesses and locals alike were advocating for it as a means to keep money flowing to crucial state programs.

    […] “For me, to be frank, it’s not necessarily about pushing back against Trump. It’s [about] fixing problems that Delawareans face every day, whether the people support Trump or not,” he told Daily Kos.

    Looking toward the future of the Democratic Party, Meyer said Democrats need to focus on the broken systems and not be afraid to call out what’s going wrong as it’s happening.

    […] “I think that’s ultimately what’s gonna win the country and win for the Democratic Party.”

  149. says

    Russia followed up its murderous cluster munitions strike on Kryvyi Rih that killed 18, including nine children, with another attack on the city. This new attack was with Shahed drones. [videos and photos at the link, scroll down to view]

    Zelenskyy blasted US Ambassador Bridget Brink for not even mentioning Russia in a statement about the attack.

    “The response from the US Embassy is surprisingly disappointing – such a strong country, such a strong people, and yet such a weak reaction. They are afraid to even say the word ‘Russian’ when speaking about the missile that murdered children.”

    Link

  150. says

    What an embarrassment:

    The following is from a newsletter on Moldova about how Trump came up with his bogus tariff figures.

    Economists have been scrambling to make these numbers add up. Nobel Prize Winning Economist Paul Krugman, on his excellent Substack, notes that the EU charges less than a 3% tariff on US goods. Trump claims 39% and uses that number to justify 20% new tariffs. Krugman notes that even if you add in Value Added Tax (VAT), which is not a tariff, you can’t get anywhere near 39%. Similarly the 61% number for Moldova is simply ludicrous.

    UNLESS… IT ISN’T WHAT THEY CLAIM IT IS

    James Surowiecki on X appears to have been the first to crack the code and figure out where all of these number come from. His conclusions were subsequently reported out by the NYTimes and later confirmed by the White House.

    Basically, what Trump is calling “Tariffs charged to the U.S.A. including currency manipulation and trade barriers” is actually the “Trade Deficit as a Share of Imports.” Here’s how it works in the case of Moldova.

    In 2024 the US-Moldova trade relationship was the following:

    US Exports to Moldova: $53.6 million

    Moldova Exports to the US: $136.5 million

    US-Moldova Trade Deficit: -$82.9 million […]

    Plugging in the 2024 numbers above you get a ratio of 60.7%. Trump rounded this up to 61% and then halved it to levy 31% tariffs on Moldova.

    Same link as in comment 149.

  152. Reginald Selkirk says

    Judge awards $6.6 million to whistleblowers who reported Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to FBI

    A district court judge on Friday awarded more than $6 million combined to four whistleblowers in their lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who were fired shortly after they reported him to the FBI.

    “By a preponderance of the evidence,” Travis County Judge Catherine Mauzy says in her judgment, the plaintiffs proved liability, damages and attorney’s fees in their complaint against the attorney general’s office.

    “Because the Office of the Attorney General violated the Texas Whistleblower Act by firing and otherwise retaliating against the plaintiff for in good faith reporting violations of law by Ken Paxton and OAG, the court hereby renders judgment for plaintiffs,” Mauzy states.

    The court found that the four Paxton aides were fired in retaliation for reporting allegations that he was using his office to accept bribes from an Austin real estate developer who employed a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair. Paxton has denied accepting bribes or misusing his office to help Nate Paul, the real estate developer.

    The judgment also stated that the employees made their reports to law enforcement “in good faith” and that Paxton’s office did not dispute any claims or damages in the lawsuit…

  153. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/senate-republicans-reinvent-math

    “Senate Republicans Reinvent Math So They Can Make America Super Poor”

    Here is a riddle for the discerning Wonkette reader: When is a tax cut not actually a tax cut? The answer, of course, is whenever the Republicans say so!

    The specific Republican making the claim here, though he is doing it with the tacit permission of his caucus, is […] Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. […] working on a budget resolution that would allow the Senate Republicans to pass much of Donald Trump’s agenda in what the emperor has called one “big, beautiful” bill. Then they can all take the rest of the year off and go play some golf at one of Trump’s clubs while the rest of us stare at our 401k balances and weep into our canned soup.

    Republicans would prefer that no one realize just how much all the tax cuts that are a centerpiece of the big, beautiful agenda will eventually cost. To get around that pesky problem, Graham announced that he is using an accounting trick known by its technical term, “making shit up.”

    Here is the issue. Budget resolutions project government spending and revenue in a 10-year timeframe. That means this new resolution has to account for the fact that the 2017 Trump tax cuts are set to expire in 2027. This is a problem because the Republicans would like to not only extend those tax cuts, but tack on many, many more. Add it all together, and suddenly this bill might blow out the deficit and add anywhere from $5 to $11 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.

    […] If the bill doesn’t pass the CBO’s [Congressional Budget Office’s] scoring, the Senate parliamentarian can advise that the bill does not qualify for a reconciliation vote, which requires only a simple majority to pass. Republicans would have to make all sorts of spending cuts to the bill for it to get through. Or they would have to reduce the size of the tax cuts. That is definitely a nonstarter for them.

    […] the Republicans came up with a neat trick: What if they just pretend the 2017 tax cuts don’t actually expire in 2027, but are simply the financial equivalent of How We Live Now? This is called using “current policy baseline,” and we’ll let Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post explain it in simple terms:

    Here’s how: Republicans say that because some (expiring) tax cuts have been in place since 2017, extending them shouldn’t be recorded as costing anything, because they wouldn’t feel different.

    As Rampell notes, this is like saying if the lease on your car expires, you should get a new one for free just because you got used to having a car. It’s utter horseshit. But then, so is everything else these weirdos have been doing.

    Republicans have asked the parliamentarian to accept scoring the bill using their bullshit math. But then Lindsey Graham announced he wasn’t even bothering to wait for the parliamentarian to decide. Why bother waiting for a ruling to ignore? Might as well cut out all the drama now.

    From The Hill:

    Graham in a statement said he has authority under Section 312 of the Congressional Budget Act “to determine baseline numbers for spending and revenue.”

    “Under that authority, I have determined that current policy will be the budget baseline regarding taxation. This will allow the tax cuts to be permanent — which will tremendously boost the economy,” he said.

    Translation: As Budget Chairman, I can just make up numbers on the spot. That $11 trillion we’re adding to the deficit? AKSHUALLY, we’re paying off $11 trillion of the national debt. Because I said so. Factories will boom and everyone will have a job. The economy will be booming. Also, fish are called birds now. Birds are called oomphyflagershtockers. Take it up with the voters if you don’t like it.

    This is the sort of math that Donald Trump has loved for his entire business career […] we’re pretty sure we remember Trump hiding spending through some shady accounting trips resulted in him being convicted of three dozen felonies.

    […] the GOP doesn’t feel it even needs to bother with the optics. […]

  154. Reginald Selkirk says

    Sahara desert, once lush and green, was home to mysterious human lineage

    The Sahara Desert is one of Earth’s most arid and desolate places, stretching across a swathe of North Africa that spans parts of 11 countries and covers an area comparable to China or the United States. But it has not always been so inhospitable.

    During a period from about 14,500 to 5,000 years ago, it was a lush green savannah rich in bodies of water and teeming with life. And, according to DNA obtained from the remains of two individuals who lived about 7,000 years ago in what is now Libya, it was home to a mysterious lineage of people isolated from the outside world.

    Researchers analyzed the first genomes from people who lived in what is called the “Green Sahara.” They obtained DNA from the bones of two females buried at a rock shelter called Takarkori in remote southwestern Libya. They were naturally mummified, representing the oldest-known mummified human remains.

    “At the time, Takarkori was a lush savannah with a nearby lake, unlike today’s arid desert landscape,” said archaeogeneticist Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, one of the authors of the study published this week in the journal Nature.

    The genomes reveal that the Takarkori individuals were part of a distinct and previously unidentified human lineage that lived separated from sub-Saharan and Eurasian populations for thousands of years.

    “Intriguingly, the Takarkori people show no significant genetic influence from sub-Saharan populations to the south or Near Eastern and prehistoric European groups to the north. This suggests they remained genetically isolated despite practicing animal husbandry – a cultural innovation that originated outside Africa,” Krause said…

  155. Reginald Selkirk says

    Homeowner records man threatening to deport roof workers, gets punched

    Portland authorities are searching for a man who reportedly attacked and bloodied a homeowner in his car with his 5-year-old daughter in the backseat.

    The homeowner told KOIN 6 News he received a notification from his doorbell camera while picking up his daughter just after 3 p.m. on Thursday. Footage shows a man with light facial hair hurling a rock at a home at SE 42nd Avenue and Rex Street.

    In the video, a man can be seen yelling slurs in Spanish and cursing at workers on the roof, saying he could have them deported. Police said the man appeared to be “upset over the ethnicity of the crew.”

    When the homeowner arrived back at the property, he reported seeing the man down the block and driving up to ask what he was doing.

    He said that’s when the man threatened to come into his house and kill him.

    At that point, the homeowner reached for his phone to take a picture of the man. Cell phone footage shows the man slapping the phone out of the homeowner’s hands.

    The homeowner said that seconds later, the attacker reached into his car and punched him directly in the nose — causing extensive bleeding and requiring a trip to urgent care.

    Portland police said they have identified the suspect, but have not been able to locate him. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact law enforcement…

  156. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/of-course-its-medicare-and-medicaid

    “Of Course It’s Medicare And Medicaid Administrator Dr. Oz”

    Look who just got confirmed by the Senate as the next administrator of Medicare & Medicaid, it is Dr. Mehmet Oz, TV huckster! Because President Gameshow Host loves people on the teevee, and hucksters. And they can do an “aw, shucks” routine together. Remember how in 2016 Trump went on Dr. Oz’s show to performatively hand him his “medical records” that looked like two blank pieces of paper? [video at the link]

    “If your health is as strong as it seems from your review of systems, why not share your medical records?”

    “Well, I have really no problem in doing it. I have it right here. I mean, should I do it? I don’t care. Should I do it?” To whoops, and then Dr. Oz pretended to look at the two blank pieces of paper.

    Medical claims based on nearly blank pieces of paper is Dr. Oz’s specialty! For more than 10 years, until 2022, he had a nationwide show that was not much more than a half-hour infomercial for “magic” and “miracle” ingredients like “green coffee extract,” and “raspberry ketone,” which one could conveniently purchase as supplements at a site he had a stake in, iHerb.

    […]some of his medical claims were just pulled-out-of-thin-air kooky, like lavender soap curing restless-leg syndrome, or that taking human pregnancy hormones could help people lose weight. A 2014 study concluded that less than a third of the claims made on “The Dr. Oz Show” were backed by any “believable” evidence.

    In 2012, Oz paid a $3.5 million fine to the FTC for making “baseless weight-loss claims.” And then in 2018, Trump appointed him to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

    And during the pandemic, Dr. Oz became a Fox quackflack, promoting chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as a COVID cure in more than 25 appearances in March and April 2020 [!!] Then in 2022 he gave up his snake-oil show and seat on the Fitness Council to run for Senate against John Fetterman, a race he lost […] [video at the link]

    Most ominous Dr. Oz claim: that no one has a right to health care, though the uninsured should be generously allowed 15-minute checkups in a “festival-like setting.” Get ready to party with checkups in the parking lot, grandma, grandpa and poors!

    Trump and Oz go way back, via Oprah, and Trump and Oprah go way way back, to at least 1988. Trump appeared on her show multiple times through the years. (Oprah endorsed John Fetterman over her former protege, better late than never!)

    Dr. Oz has ties to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, too, and is an Armenian Genocide denier. And Trump and VERY DICTATOR-Y Erdogan have lots of ties too, like Michael Flynn, and the time Trump pulled troops out of northern Syria so Turkey could massacre some Kurds. It’s just all one big Turkish-dictator-loving family. […]

  157. says

    Elon Musk says he wants a ‘zero tariff situation’ and a ‘free trade zone’ for Europe amid Trump’s trade war

    “In streamed remarks at an event hosted by Italy’s right-wing deputy prime minister, Musk said Europe and the U.S. should move to ‘a zero tariff situation.’ ”

    […] I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk told “The League Congress” on Saturday, an event hosted by right wing Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

    “That’s what I hope occurs, and also more freedom of people to move between Europe and North America if they wish, if they wish to work in Europe or wish to work in America, they should be allowed to do so, in my view. So that has certainly been my advice to the president,” Musk added.

    Musk’s remarks come days after Trump unveiled tariffs on some of the nation’s largest trading partners. The U.S. is set to impose a 20% tariff on the European Union under Trump’s plan.

    [I snipped details about stock markets plunging.]

    […] In a post on Truth Social Saturday, after two days of the stock market falling, Trump was steadfast in his rationale for imposing these widespread tariffs, writing that China “and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly. We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post.'” […]

  158. DrVanNostrand says

    Of course we already basically had a “zero tariff situation” between the US and Europe before Trump did this.

  159. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    This week, USAID finally sent workers to assess the quake zone in Myanmar… three people… then sent emails firing them, in particular, while they slept in the rubble, days after arriving.

    NYT

    More than 3,300 people were killed and more than 4,800 injured in Myanmar […] The Trump administration has been criticized by Democratic lawmakers and others for what they called its paltry response. […] One of the aid workers had flown in from Washington, and the other two from Bangkok and Manila, where the aid agency has regional operations. […] It is unclear what they will now do in Myanmar and when they will leave their jobs.

    Lisa Desjardins (PBS Newshour):

    […] [Also] the State Dept has begun cancelling awards/aid programs in disaster zones that can be life and death, including food aid. Some programs have been cancelled in *Yemen, Syria, Gaza*. The source said this is contrary to State’s waiver policy.

  160. Bekenstein Bound says

    Democratic governor rips Trump for turning US into a bad reality show

    The word “bad” in that headline is redundant.

    Remember how in 2016 Trump went on Dr. Oz’s show to performatively hand him his “medical records” that looked like two blank pieces of paper?

    Shades of McCarthy and his notorious claim, “I have here in my hand a list of 205 — a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department”?

  161. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Chris Hayes (MSNBC):

    It’s very weird to me that in all the (genuinely comical) hermeneutic reading of Trump’s decision to annihilate the global trade system, no one actually quotes one of the major reasons he himself cites for it:

    he wants to abolish the income tax and fund the government almost entirely through tariffs, thereby delivering the most regressive bonanza to the rich in the history of American taxation. He has said this many many times. He said it *at the announcement* and yet [articles] just ignore it.

    A government withered so small, penguins will fund it.

  162. John Morales says

    A government withered so small, penguins will fund it.

    No, they won’t, because they can’t.

    You mean a government so big, it takes over an entire country (the USA) and changes everything overnight, because the executive branch has been given so much power and because it faces no particular impediment from either the legislative or judicial branches.

    I know, you were trying to be sardonic, but really!

    If you were gonna point out a particular stupidity, the inclusion of that place in the list is, well, the least of it.

    (E.g. Taiwan is a named country; China is not super-keen on that, and the USA has obfuscated for decades about it. Inadvertent concession, right there. That’s more indicative of the amateurish and ignorant government the USA elected in this cycle)

  163. StevoR says

    Aussie ABC news Op-ed :

    To many international observers, however, his first two months in office have felt more like the total eclipse of America: a darkening of the leader the world has known since it entered World War II.

    To those living in the most impoverished parts of the globe, such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, it has meant the world’s richest nation turning off life-saving funding to USAID. To soldiers on the frontline in Ukraine, it has meant the interruption of vital intelligence and military assistance in their fight against Vladimir Putin’s army. To close friends as well as foes, it has meant the imposition of punitive tariffs. To those who rely on the Voice of America in countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela, where information is heavily censored by authoritarian regimes, it has meant radio silence.

    Loud and clear, Canadians have heard their closest ally threaten annexation, and their absorption into America as its 51st state. In Europe, diplomats who attended the Munich Security Conference listened dumbstruck as the US vice-president aligned the Trump administration with the European hard and far right — a message JD Vance jack-hammered home by meeting Alice Weidel, the leader of the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD), on the eve of the German election.

    In Australia, we have watched the Albanese government pay $798 million into US coffers as a down payment on the AUKUS security pact only to be slammed afterwards with punitive tariffs on steel and aluminium.

    Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-06/trump-tariffs-america-in-danger-of-becoming-a-friendless-state/105125122

  164. John Morales says

    That’s rhetoric, StevoR.

    Obs, it was not a sudden volte-face, but rather a culmination of trends that were already visible in his first term.

    He got elected, remember.
    Just over half of those who bothered to vote (around a third of the electorate) gave him the opportunity, and Congress and the Supreme Court are letting him get away with it all.

    So, in your allegory, of the five phases of an eclipse, this is the one before totality, but after the first contact.

    —

    Oh yeah, and USAid and whatnot were implements of soft power, not merely charity.

  165. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: John Morales @162:

    they won’t, because they can’t.

    Then there was no disagreement. My sardonic point was that solely relying on tariffs (the primary content of the comment) would be inadequate. I could’ve picked Taiwan, France, etc. I chose a nil-revenue location for absurdity. The penguins were only relevant in being trendy among the negligibly inhabited islands listed, all incapable of funding in that way.

    My use of ‘withering’ referred to the downsizing of personnel, assets, and services, and general sabotage of management, contracts, regulators, and tax collectors, and loss of international goodwill and soft power, not whatever metaphorical ‘big’ you had in mind associated with a few authoritarians within that hamstrung incompetent bureaucracy asserting more power than they are legally entitled to.

  166. JM says

    ISW: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 3, 2025

    Russia seeks to leverage ongoing ceasefire and future peace negotiations to seize large amounts of territory in Ukraine and install a pro-Russian puppet government in Kyiv but will likely continue military operations in Ukraine if the Kremlin is unable to achieve a full Ukrainian surrender through diplomacy.

    Well duh. The important thing is that Ukraine is having none of it. Russia might be able to manipulate Trump but Zelensky and the other European leaders know what is going on and that Russia isn’t really interested in peace.

    The ODNI report assessed that Russia has suffered significant casualties in Ukraine and that Russia must contend with the poor quality of its new recruits.[5] The ODNI report assessed that the Russian economy is facing significant challenges as Russia continues to balance resource allocation between defense industrial production and civilian sectors. US European Command (EUCOM) Commander and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Christopher Cavoli stated on April 3 that Russian forces have lost over 4,000 tanks in Ukraine.[6] Cavoli stated that Russia started the war with a total of 13,000 tanks and are “starting to approach near the end” of the viable tanks in storage.

    Russia is really starting to run into trouble keeping the war going. They continue to expand production of military supplies but are having trouble because of sanctions, they may not be producing heavy gear as fast as they did before the war. Production of drones, artillery and basic arms continues to rise.

    Ukrainian forces advanced near Pokrovsk. Russian forces advanced in Kursk and Belgorod and near Lyman, Toretsk, Kurakhove, and Velyka Novosilka.

    The overall level of activity has gone done. The Russians are stockpiling supplies and manpower for a summer offensive. Right now both sides are trying to grab small but important bits of ground rather then make any large offense.
    CNN: Rubio tells Russia the clock is ticking while allies doubt Putin wants peace in Ukraine

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed on Friday that he had met with an envoy for President Vladimir Putin this week and sent him back to Moscow with a message: the clock is ticking on when there needs to be a breakthrough in the peace talks to end the Ukraine war.
    “That time is coming,” Rubio said, “It’s pretty short.”

    Vague, extends an already extended multiple times dead line and US options that don’t involve putting US forces in Ukraine are limited. The Russian’s are probably having trouble keeping a straight face when given that threat. Stalling is what the Russians are trying to do right now, this just helps them.
    AP: Zelenskyy meets European military leaders to plan for a peacekeeping force

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met the leaders of the British and French armed forces in Kyiv Saturday to discuss the potential deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force to Ukraine, despite the reluctance of U.S. President Donald Trump to provide security guarantees.

    This is important, what Lelensky can learn about the size, composition and orders of a security force plays into how strong his negotiating position is. He is also gathering information about support and supplies.
    Reuters: Exclusive: Germany funds Eutelsat internet in Ukraine as Musk tensions rise

    Berlin has been paying for Ukraine’s access to a satellite-internet network operated by France’s Eutelsat (ETL.PA) as Europe seeks alternatives to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
    Eutelsat’s chief executive Eva Berneke told Reuters the company has provided its high-speed satellite internet service to Ukraine for about a year via a German distributor.

    Ukraine is slowly working to phase out gear unique to the US. It’s a slow process because much of it is hooked together and Ukraine has to figure out different wiring and software. If push comes to shove Ukraine won’t accept a surrender level deal even if the US withdraws.

  167. John Morales says

    Yes, attempted hyperbole. Weak, but I get it.

    Thing is, you’re trying to diss the current administration thereby, but actually conceding its temporal power.

    They are doing this stuff, so clearly they can do it.

    A government withered so small, penguins will fund it.

    A government so powerful, ordinary people claim that penguins will fund it.

    My use of ‘withering’ referred to the downsizing of personnel, assets, and services, and general sabotage of management, contracts, regulators, and tax collectors, and loss of international goodwill and soft power, not whatever metaphorical ‘big’ you had in mind associated with a few authoritarians within that hamstrung incompetent bureaucracy asserting more power than they are legally entitled to.

    Yes, and my point was that this has actually, evidently, factually, truly happened.

    Not too fucking withered to achieve all of that, eh?

    I put it to you that, were the government withered (and thus impotent), this could not have happened.

    Now, if you truly, really think that getting what you actually want done is a sign of withered smallness, well, I shan’t be able to get through to you.

    But no. Penguins will most certainly not fund the USA goverment.

    (This is where a certain obsessed hatefan of mine would call me ‘hyperliteral’, purely because I point out bullshit rhetoric)

    —

    So.

    not whatever metaphorical ‘big’ you had in mind

    The reality of things, what is actually happening, the actual real-life events are exactly, precisely, unambiguously, definitively, clearly, accurately, specifically, explicitly, categorically what I had in mind.

    That is to say, what is happening now is a pure example of ‘big government’, or of ‘government power’.

    (Or are you gonna claim a puny government could do that?)

  168. John Morales says

    [lots of typing, fuck-all refreshing.
    My previous was to CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain @165]

    —

    Oh, yeah.

    l have in the past told people that you exist and are a commenter here, JM, and that thus they could do better than to refer to me by those initials. And a good one you are, I reckon, FWTW.

  169. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: John Morales @167:

    what is happening now is a pure example of ‘big government’ […] you gonna claim a puny government could do that?

    Big Balls, indeed.

  170. John Morales says

    Was that a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’?

    It sure seems like an evasion.

    Feel free to go on and tell me how puny this current USA govermnent is, and thus justify your claim.

    —

    So.

    I checked with the Bubbly Useless Freebie A:

    Certainly! Here’s a concise response to your original question about the three branches of the U.S. government and their current controlling factions:

    Executive: Controlled by Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
    Legislative**: - House of Representatives: Controlled by the Republican Party.
    Senate: Controlled by the Republican Party (with a majority).
    Judicial: Independent, but the Supreme Court leans conservative due to its Republican-appointed majority.

  171. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: John Morales:
    You’re welcome to silently parse my last response in whatever way concludes the exchange most satisfactorily to you. I’m not interested continuing it and will accept disappointing you if that’s the interpretation you prefer.

  172. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Anna Bower (Lawfare):

    [A thread of court transcript snippets]
    The Court: why can’t the United States get Mr. Abrego Garcia back?

    DoJ’s Mr. Reuveni: […] when this case landed on my desk, the first thing I did was ask my clients that very question. I’ve not received, to date, an answer that I find satisfactory.

    The Court: Okay. Well, I, again, appreciate your candor.

     
    NYT – Justice Dept. accuses top immigration lawyer of failing to follow orders

    A senior Justice Department immigration lawyer was put on indefinite leave Saturday after questioning the Trump administration’s decision to deport a Maryland man to El Salvador—one day after representing the government in court.
    […]
    “At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a statement sent to The Times on Saturday. “Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences.”
    […]
    Under questioning by a federal judge on Friday, Mr. Reuveni conceded that the deportation last month of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who had a court order allowing him to stay in the United States, should never have taken place. Mr. Reuveni also said he had been frustrated when the case landed on his desk.

    Mr. Reuveni, a respected 15-year veteran of the immigration division, asked the judge for 24 hours to persuade his “client,” the Trump administration, to begin the process of retrieving and repatriating Mr. Abrego Garcia.

    Less than 24 hours later, Mr. Blanche, President Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer […] suspended Mr. Reuveni with pay, cut off access to his work email and blocked him from performing any duties related to his job.

    Rando 1: “Failure to zealously advocate for actions the department itself has admitted were illegal.”

    Rando 2: “Picture the quality of lawyers DOJ will have left after another year of this.”

    Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (American Immigration Council):

    And I [also] suspect it’s because Reuveni has, in his many years at OIL, been involved in previous noncontroversial efforts to bring back people wrongfully deported, so he knows it’s not something shocking or unusual, and it’s the norm.

  173. John Morales says

    You’re welcome You’re welcome to silently parse my last response in whatever way concludes the exchange most satisfactorily to you..

    Likewise, you are most welcome You’re welcome to silently parse my last response in whatever way concludes the exchange most satisfactorily to you, so that you can cope with the reality that this government action exhibits a shitload of power; new worldwide recession, 80 years of goodwill pissed down the drain, no biggie.

    So weak!

    I’m not interested continuing it and will accept disappointing you if that’s the interpretation you prefer.

    Heh.

    It’s not disappointment, it’s vindication you must accept.

    (I got you)

  175. Silentbob says

    @ 167 Morales

    Captain, since you seem confused, here’s a sketch of what Hyperliteriasm means:

    A: “It rained so hard I nearly drowned!”
    B: “No it didn’t, it was 6mm of rain.”

    Not hyperliteralism.

    A: “It was raining, so I had to take an umbrella to walk to work.”
    B: “That’s a lie. You always the option of leaving the umbrella and being drenched. Respond immediately and concede to my superior intellect.”

    Hyperliteralism.

    It means deliberately misinterpreting something someone has said in an absurd and obviously incorrect way so as to manufacture an excuse to attack them.

    You have only ever been criticized for the latter repeated rhetorical technique.

  176. Silentbob says

    @ Morales
    obsessed hatefan
    Speaking of hyperbole. X-D

    You mean, “random commenter who has pointed out nonsense in my comments on more than one occasion”.

  177. KG says

    If you were gonna point out a particular stupidity, the inclusion of that place in the list is, well, the least of it.

    (E.g. Taiwan is a named country; China is not super-keen on that, and the USA has obfuscated for decades about it. Inadvertent concession, right there. That’s more indicative of the amateurish and ignorant government the USA elected in this cycle) – John Morales@162

    China has no reason to be pissed off at Taiwan being listed: a number of non-independent territories are, including for example British Indian Ocean Territory, which as its name suggests belongs to the UK, and whose only residents are British and American service personnel – the native inhabitants were cruelly deported to Mauritius decades ago. Other places such as Aruba (a Dutch overseas territory), Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands (British overseas territories), French Polynesia (guess) etc. I’ve read that its a list of internet domains rather than of countries, but I haven’t checked that.

  179. John Morales says

    SoylentBlob:
    @ Morales
    obsessed hatefan
    Speaking of hyperbole. X-D

    So I am both hyperliteral and hyperbolic, simultaneously.

    (Tall and short, fat and skinny, good and evil, that’s me)

  180. redwood says

    @173 John Morales I enjoy your comments when you introduce news items of interest but your puerile attempts at one-upmanship (“I got you”) and “setting the record straight” by pointing out what you believe are mistakes by commenters are just tedious and tiresome.

  182. Reginald Selkirk says

    DOGE reportedly planning a hackathon to build ‘mega API’ for IRS data

    Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to host a hackathon next week focused on the creation of a “mega API” that will provide access to taxpayer data, according to Wired.

    Wired says the hackathon is being organized by two DOGE staffers at the Internal Revenue Service — Gavin Kliger and Sam Corcos, who’s also CEO at healthtech startup Levels. Corcos has reportedly been telling others at DOGE that his goal is to build “one new API to rule them all.”

    This would make it easy for cloud providers to access IRS data including taxpayer names, addresses, social security numbers, tax returns, and employment information, which could all be exported to external systems. According to Wired, a third-party party vendor would manage parts of the project, with Palantir “consistently” brought up as a candidate.

    “It’s basically an open door controlled by Musk for all Americans’ most sensitive information with none of the rules that normally secure that data,” an anonymous IRS worker reportedly told Wired.

  183. birgerjohansson says

    One of the best signs during the demonstrations was carried by a little old lady saying (sorry, Lynna) “I would call Trump a c***, but he lacks the depth and the warmth”.
    .
    🚨….aand yet another Trump advisor caught in a scandal.

    .https://youtube.com/watch?v=_sM0NN_AxG4
    Yes Ron Vera was a made-up expert.

  185. says

    Musk must pay, DOGE steals a building, and Big Law bends another knee

    Wasn’t it a delight to see Elon Musk face-plant in his attempt to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat? It has to irk Musk that there’s an election he couldn’t buy, even after being allowed to try to bribe Wisconsin voters with cold hard cash.

    Musk’s humiliation shouldn’t stop there, though. Just because Musk’s preferred candidate didn’t prevail shouldn’t insulate him from criminal prosecution in the state.

    Before the election, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul brought a lawsuit against Musk, asking the court for an emergency injunction. After the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s denial of that injunction, Musk was allowed to continue his blatant vote buying. […]

    Although that request for emergency relief was unsuccessful, that isn’t the same thing as a ruling that Musk broke no laws. […]

    More at the link.

  186. KG says

    John Morales@178,

    Ah, yes, I’d forgotten that terminology! Thanks for the clarification.

  188. says

    Visas revoked for more than 3 dozen California university students and alumni

    “Sec. of State Marco Rubio said the government has revoked at least 300 student visas after high-profile detainments of several pro-Palestinian scholars.”

    Related video at the link.

    Stanford University is the latest California school to report several active students and alumni have had their visas revoked as part of a sweeping crackdown by the Trump administration.

    Stanford confirmed in a statement Sunday that six members of its community had their visas revoked. This included four currently enrolled students and two recent graduates, the university said.

    “The University learned of the revocations during a routine check of the [Student and Exchange Visitor Information System] database,” it said. “Stanford notified the students of the revocations and made external legal assistance available to them.” [Note that the federal government (certainly not Marco Rubio) notifies the people whose visas had been revoked.]

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month the State Department has revoked 300 or more student visas, seemingly targeting foreign-born students who participate in political activism. This comes after several high-profile cases of pro-Palestinian scholars being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    More than three dozen students and alumni of California universities have had their visas nullified in the last week, though schools did not provide detailed information on the students citing privacy concerns.

    […] Six people who attended the nearby University of California, Berkeley, campus also had their student visas revoked. The UC school said in a statement Saturday that two undergraduate students, two graduate students, and two alumni were impacted. […]

    More at the link.

  189. says

    Those in our organization that gather information have seen that history has always proven that the DNC and RNC are both corrupt, corporate, big money self-gratifying machines. The DNC cannot be trusted. They proved their deceit when they made backroom deals to destroy Bernie Sanders in 2016. We are convinced that the headline below is just another crumb thrown to the populace, calculatedly in advance of the massive protests, to calm the legitimate attack on the corporate political machines. It will be ‘fierce’ like a toothless old dog where a lot of happy-horseshit words are spoken, ignored by the corrupt corporate DNC and NO REAL CHANGE OR ACTION WILL BE TAKEN. They should have announced this on 01 April, ALL FOOLS DAY!

      Prove us wrong with facts, I dare you!

    https://democrats.org/news/dnc-chair-ken-martin-launches-peoples-cabinet-to-fiercely-counter-trump-administration-chaos-and-lies/
    DNC Chair Ken Martin Launches “People’s Cabinet” to Fiercely Counter Trump Administration Chaos and Lies April 4, 2025
    “People’s Cabinet” to feature subject matter experts on policy, elevating national and local leaders, and community voices on issues impacting working families

  190. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    The Handbacket – Try that in a small town

    Principal Jaime Cook describes one of the third graders in her northern New York school as particularly rambunctious. […] last week this child was handcuffed and taken […] along with other family members—two of whom are high school-aged kids. While they all remain jailed in Texas, classmates leave cards on the student’s desk and hang a welcome home banner they hope will be seen.
    […]
    A worker on a local dairy farm who had no criminal record and was awaiting legal immigration proceedings was disappeared […] Agents were executing a search warrant for an unrelated suspected criminal who lived on the same block, and somehow the family was swept up and whisked away to Texas. And around 1,000 people came together this weekend to rally for their safe return
    […]
    The town of 1,300 people has just one school for all children K-12 where they graduate approximately 40 students each year. It’s an affluent and idyllic-looking town […] in a county that voted 61% for Trump in 2024. And when protesters marched down the streets […] they made sure to pass by the home of one community member in particular: Tom Homan, Trump’s Border Czar.
    […]
    Homan has been decidedly less concerned about his neighbors […] He claimed in a local TV news interview […] that the children and their mother were potential witnesses to the alleged crime and that they had to be detained for questions. And he was sure to make one thing clear: “First of all, the family is not in a jail. They’re in a family residential center, it’s an open air campus.”

    These types of arrests—known as “collateral detention”—are becoming more common. […] New York Immigration Coalition, told The Intercept. “They go in allegedly looking for someone else and then they’ll take whoever they can find just so they can meet their quota numbers that Donald Trump has put in place.”
    […]
    one of her teachers […] has been waiting for “the call” letting them know the family is free to go, and believes that call is imminent. But even once they’re freed, ICE will do nothing to transport them back to the home from which they were snatched. Fortunately the town has come together to make sure there are people on the ground in Texas waiting to accompany the family

    Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (American Immigration Council):

    It’s a jail. They’re surrounded by […] armed guards. It’s a jail. It’s a complex of trailers surrounded by barbed wire. People are not allowed to leave. It is a jail.

    […] Obama opened Dilley and Biden stopped using it for families. The Biden admin also cancelled contracts with multiple pretty bad detention centers. […]

    Rando: “I feel like they’re quickly beginning to argue something like: ‘it’s not a jail It’s a concentration camp’.”

  191. lumipuna says

    Well. shit.

    https://yle.fi/a/74-20154209

    Some of us remember Sanal Edamaraku, the famous Indian skeptic activist who fled his country in 2012 to avoid arrest and violence over religious blasphemy. He’s been living in Finland and doing speaking gigs in various countries. Now he’s been arrested in Poland (a country that apparently has sympathy for cranky Catholic zealots) and faces extradition to India.

  192. says

    lumipuna @191, yes, that is bad and discouraging news. Sorry to see that. Poland is in the wrong here.

    In other legal news: Federal judge in scathing decision calls Trump’s deportation of Salvadoran man ‘wholly lawless’

    […] The decision includes a number of new details about Garcia.

    […] The administration has argued that Xinis lacks the power to hear the case, but Xinis rejected all of their arguments, writing that “defendants are wrong on several fronts” in part because Abrego Garcia is not challenging his confinement in the United States but his deportation to the prison in El Salvador.

    She accused the administration of clinging “to the stunning proposition that they can forcibly remove any person — migrant and U.S. citizen alike — to prisons outside the United States, and then baldly assert they have no way to effectuate return because they are no longer the ‘custodian,’ and the Court thus lacks jurisdiction,” Xinis wrote. “As a practical matter, the facts say otherwise.”

    Xinis argued the administration is effectively saying that it does not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the United States, but she wrote that their argument “rings hollow.” […]

    More at the link.

  193. says

    “Since Trump took office, the park service —- an agency charged with preserving American history —- has changed how its website describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow.”

    For years, a National Park Service webpage introduced the Underground Railroad with a large photograph of its most famous “conductor,” Harriet Tubman. “The Underground Railroad — the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War — refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage,” the page began.

    Tubman’s photograph is now gone. In its place are images of Postal Service stamps that highlight “Black/White cooperation” in the secret network and that feature Tubman among abolitionists of both races.

    The introductory sentence is gone, too. It has been replaced by a line that makes no mention of slavery and that describes the Underground Railroad as “one of the most significant expressions of the American civil rights movement.” The effort “bridged the divides of race,” the page now says. [images at the link]

    The executive order that […] Trump issued late last month directing the Smithsonian Institution to eliminate “divisive narratives” stirred fears that the president aimed to whitewash the stories the nation tells about itself. But a Washington Post review of websites operated by the National Park Service — among the key agencies charged with the preservation of American history — found that edits on dozens of pages since Trump’s inauguration have already softened descriptions of some of the most shameful moments of the nation’s past.

    Some were edited to remove references to slavery. On other pages, statements on the historic struggle of Black Americans for their rights were cut or softened, as were references to present-day echoes of racial division. The Post compared webpages as of late March to earlier versions preserved online by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

    Changes in images, descriptions and even individual words have subtly reshaped the meaning of notable moments and key figures dating to the nation’s founding — abolitionist John Brown’s doomed raid, the battle at Appomattox and school integration by the Little Rock Nine. […]

    Washington Post link

    More at the link.

  194. says

    Followup to comment 193.

    Excerpts from an article written by David Remnick for The New Yorker:

    […] As is true of autocracies everywhere, this Administration demands a mystical view of an imagined past. In late March, Trump issued an executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Its diagnosis is that there has long been among professors and curators “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” It continues:

    Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed. Rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame.

    The Smithsonian, the vast complex of museums that millions of Americans visit every year to see Lincoln’s top hat, the Spirit of St. Louis, Harriet Tubman’s shawl, a moon rock, and Dorothy’s ruby slippers, is at the center of the executive order’s indignation. The order takes particular issue with a sculpture exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum called “The Shape of Power,” saying that it pushes “the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct.”

    Perhaps it is rude or “revisionist” to question the scholarship of an executive order [not “rude” but essential during the Trump administration], but the curators got it right. As a wall text at the exhibit points out, human beings are “99.9 percent genetically the same.” The opposing view, racial essentialism, is hardly benign; it is the underpinning of virulent bigotry, from the description of Jews as vermin in Der Stürmer to the assertions in white-nationalist manifestos that Black people are cursed with inferior I.Q.s. [Important]

    The National Museum of African American History and Culture—which, until recently, was run by The New Yorker’s poetry editor, Kevin Young—comes in for particularly splenetic denunciation. Trump, in his first term, expressed a modicum of admiration while visiting what is affectionately called the Black Smithsonian. It is a spectacular museum, one that richly represents the story of African American struggle, suffering, and achievement. Daily, adults and schoolkids take in exhibits about chattel slavery and Jim Crow, ­Reconstruction and the civil-­rights movement, and leave with a deeper understanding of ­American history in all its darkness and its promise. But in a culture war that demands that political opponents be branded, en masse, as “woke revolutionaries,” there can be no complexity. And it will be the job, according to the executive order, of Vice-­President J. D. Vance, who sits on the Smithsonian’s board, to make matters simple. Vance is charged with leading the effort to remove from the museum what is called, in exquisite Orwellese, “improper ideology.”

    This urge to police the past is hardly unique to the Trump Administration. It is the reflexive obsession of autocrats everywhere. The history museums that were once a feature of many Soviet cities did not interrogate the life of Lenin. They were places of orthodox worship. His typescripts and teacups were sacralized, like the Shroud of Turin. More important, his ideological tenets were not left open to discussion. For decades, the second-most important figure in the Communist Party, after the General Secretary, was arguably the chief ideologist, who had the final word over what could and could not be said about history. […]

    New Yorker link

    More at the link.

  196. Reginald Selkirk says

    Witnesses: Man with gun threatened protesters in Lafayette anti-Trump rally; police: man was defending self

    Bystanders at an anti-Trump rally in downtown Lafayette on Saturday said a man angry about traffic jumped out of a truck, pulled on a Trump shirt, retrieved a gun from his vehicle and threatened protesters before being handcuffed and driven away by Lafayette police.

    A police spokesman said later Saturday that officers determined the man did not point the gun at anyone and he was later released…

  197. Reginald Selkirk says

    Al Green says he’ll present articles of impeachment against Trump in next 30 days

    Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) said he will bring articles of impeachment against President Trump in the next 30 days, telling protesters at an anti-Trump rally in Washington that he does not “deserve” to hold the executive office…

    White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston told The Hill in an emailed statement that Trump’s “position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries.” …

  198. John Morales says

    As usual, Perun has a most informative video out, in the usual Powerpoint format:
    The New U.S. Tariffs – Weird Formulas, Risks, & The Coming Trade War.

    Timestamps:

    00:00:00 — Intro
    00:00:33 — What Am I Talking About?
    00:03:41 — the Tariffs
    00:12:52 — Why?
    00:18:58 — Complications
    00:25:51 — What Makes Effective Tariffs?
    00:32:08 — Trade Warfare 101
    00:34:10 — US Advantages
    00:38:33 — US Vulnerabilities
    00:53:58 — an Alternative Strategy
    01:03:06 — Channel Update

  199. Reginald Selkirk says

    UConn dominates South Carolina, wins 12th national title

    It’s been a nine-year wait for UConn to get its 12th national championship. But in a lot of ways, it came at exactly the right time.

    The No. 2 seed Huskies finished their run through three No. 1 seeds — USC, UCLA and 82-59 vs. South Carolina in the NCAA final Sunday – with a title that perhaps means a little more because of the journey the program and its senior star Paige Bueckers has been on to get it.

    After winning four championships in a row from 2013 to 2016 behind superstar Breanna Stewart, the Huskies hit a series of roadblocks with tough losses and injury heartbreaks.

    But Sunday, the Huskies moved to the top of the women’s basketball world again, sending Bueckers — who is expected to be the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick on April 14 — out with her first national championship…

  200. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    From the article @190:

    Homan grew up nearby and still has his primary residence in Sackets Harbor, presumably splitting time in DC […] “This isn’t like a situation where a politician has multiple houses”

    Marisa Kabas: “An interesting coda to this story is that a house registered to Homan was put on the market two days before the raid.”

  201. Bekenstein Bound says

    “My use of ‘withering’ referred to the downsizing of personnel, assets, and services, and general sabotage of management, contracts, regulators, and tax collectors, and loss of international goodwill and soft power, not whatever metaphorical ‘big’ you had in mind associated with a few authoritarians within that hamstrung incompetent bureaucracy asserting more power than they are legally entitled to.”

    Yes, and my point was that this has actually, evidently, factually, truly happened.

    Not too fucking withered to achieve all of that, eh?

    I put it to you that, were the government withered (and thus impotent), this could not have happened.

    “He can’t possibly be dead, he clearly had the not-very-dead strength to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger!”

    I most specifically and directly addressed a claim by BB, so if there were any such debouchment, it is not oif my doing.

    Indeed, it is instead bedouchement that seems to be your specialty. :/

    Responses can only ever occur upon provocation, which is duly tautological.

    Thing is, you often post put-downs that were “provoked” by comments that were themselves completely benign, for some bizarre reason.

  202. John Morales says

    Thing is, you often post put-downs that were “provoked” by comments that were themselves completely benign, for some bizarre reason.

    No, you think that’s what’s going on.

    [Lynna, I’ve just deleted several pithy paragraphs, because, you know, the dynamic at hand.
    I do try]

  204. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Alt National Park Service:

    Yesterday was incredible. The official count is in—5.2 million people joined the Hands Off protest nationwide. So many are asking: what’s next? Mark your calendars: 4/19 is the next nationwide day of protest. Let’s go even bigger—our goal is to get 3.5% of America in the streets.

    50501 Movement said over 3 million.
     
    So it was comparable or bigger than the 2017 Women’s March.

    Between 3,267,134 and 5,246,670 people participated in the marches in the U.S., approximately 1.0 to 1.6 percent of the U.S. population.

    George Floyd protests had 15 million to 26 million.

  206. chigau (違う) says

    StevoR #23
    I’m registered to vote in Canada on 28 April, but I think I’ll go to an advance poll.
    It’s easier for my geriatric self.

  208. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    60 Minutes

    238 Venezuelan migrants […] Tom Homan has said that immigration agents spent hours conducting rigorous checks […] But after cross-referencing the internal [government] documents with domestic and international court filings, news reports and arrest records, 60 Minutes could not find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans now sitting in prison in El Salvador.

    The analysis did show that at least 22% of the men on the list do have criminal records in the U.S. or abroad. Most of the offenses are non-violent, such as theft, shoplifting and trespassing. About a dozen are accused of more serious crimes, including murder, rape, assault and kidnapping.

    For 3% of those deported, it is unclear whether a criminal record exists.

  216. birgerjohansson says

    ‘The Last of Us’: Fungal infections really can kill, and they’re getting more dangerous
    .https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01-fungal-infections-theyre-dangerous.html
    The term batshit crazy comes from inhalation of fungal spores from bat guano in caves.
    Portugese “pato” for “duck” comes from indo-iranian “bat”. So if you inhale spores from a pond while walking in a park, do you get batshit crazy?
    And, can you counter the spores with flatworms in the brain?

  230. says

    Oh FFS.

    AG Pam Bondi moves the goalposts on the nation’s ‘constitutional crisis’

    The attorney general argued that when Americans take their legal concerns about the administration to the courts, it creates a “constitutional crisis.”

    Related video at the link.

    As Donald Trump’s second term got underway, and his administration expressed indifference to legal limits, even going so far as to suggest the White House might disregard court rulings, there’s been ample discussion about whether the United States is facing a constitutional crisis. As it turns out, the president and his team are eager to join this public conversation, though they have some unusual thoughts on the matter.

    In mid-February, for example, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “the real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch,” because several judges had issued rulings the president did not like. While different political scientists define “constitutional crisis” in different ways, Leavitt’s assessment was, by any fair measure, ridiculous. [True]

    But another one of Trump’s prominent spokespersons, who ostensibly leads the Justice Department, took this absurdity one step further over the weekend. Politico reported:

    Attorney General Pam Bondi on Sunday pushed back on the idea that President Donald Trump might ignore future rulings decided by the Supreme Court, spurring constitutional discord. The real crisis, she argued, is the barrage of lawsuits the White House faces as it tries to move quickly on its agenda.

    “Just since January 20th, we’ve had over 170 lawsuits filed against us. That should be the constitutional crisis right there, 50 injunctions [I wonder why!],” Bondi said on “Fox News Sunday.” (For those keeping score, this was the attorney general’s 13th appearance on Fox since being sworn in nine weeks ago. She’s still averaging roughly one Fox appearance every four days.)

    […] The White House’s Leavitt argued that it’s a “constitutional crisis” for judges to issue opinions that Trump disagrees with, but the nation’s chief law enforcement official’s claim was just as outlandish, if not more so: Bondi argued that for Americans to take their legal concerns to the courts is itself a “constitutional crisis.”

    It reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how the American system works. In this country, if you believe the government is abusing its legal authority, you have the right to file a lawsuit and bring your concerns to a judge, who is expected to adjudicate the matter fairly and rule on the legal merits.

    […] During the same on-air appearance, the Fox host asked whether there might be a future scenario in which Trump defies a court order. The attorney general replied, “The president is going to comply with the law. He was overwhelmingly elected by an overwhelming majority of the United States citizens to be our commander-in-chief.”

    First, she could’ve said, “Of course the president will comply with court orders,” but Bondi instead answered a question that wasn’t asked. Second, suggesting that Trump will comply with the White House’s interpretation of the law was hardly reassuring. Third, Trump won with less than 50% of the popular vote, which isn’t even close to being “an overwhelming majority.”

    But stepping back, it’s also worth appreciating the degree to which the line between the attorney general and the White House press office has grown awfully blurry of late. Those who at least pretended to be concerned about the politicization of federal law enforcement in recent years should probably take note.

  231. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Warning: Brace for terrifying stupid.
    DOGE tweeted:

    The GSA IT team just saved $1M per year by converting 14,000 magnetic tapes (70 year old technology for information storage) to permanent modern digital records.

    Mekka Okereke:

    For friends not in tech: […] “We upgraded the food storage in the fallout shelter from canned food and MREs (a 70 year old technology) to modern gas station sushi rolls and ripe bananas!”

     
    Twitter’s community notes explained that DOGE was wrong.

    Sean Fagan:

    I am a professional computer storage engineer. I know what I am talking about. This is… likely beyond stupid. I am left with a question first—what is “permanent modern digital” storage?

    Second: tape storage, when stored & cared for properly, is both cheap, and *durable*—lifetime measured in decades, and not just a couple of them. Third: tape storage gets updated just as often as hard disk storage. The tape drives I would buy today are not what I would have bought 20 years ago.

    Fourth: Disk drives? hahahahahaha no.
    Fifth: SSDs? hahahahahahahahaha no.
    Sixth: thumb drives? hahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no.
    The most likely 7th: cloud storage which just hides it and oh yeah also exposes it to risk and accessibility.

    Anything that is on a tape is archived data—it’s not accessed very often. So you want media that doesn’t need to be powered on to preserve state. The *best* way to do this is laser-etched metal plates. Yes, people do that. However, not enough.

    Anyway. This is… terrifying.

     
    Assorted commentary

    “as a historian this made me burst out laughing. The reason we can still study the writing of the ancients is—it was written on durable physical supports. Maybe I’m not advocating for writing on sheep skins in 2025, but damn your ‘permanent modern digital records’.”

    “Love insinuating that an archiving technology is bad because it is old.”

    “Definitely trust the people who’ve made erasing Black people, queer people and women from all historical records with faithfully converting irreplaceable archives.”

    “Republican presidents and tapes, man.”

    “I bet five bucks this translates to ‘we moved backups from tape under federal control onto tape under someone else’s control for a service fee’ and the numbers are all made up.”
    “Bezo’s AWS, and they don’t need to destroy the data, just stop paying the bill.”

    “It can take YEARS (not days/hours) to properly digitize archived records to adhere to records preservation and destruction rules and also to ensure YOU DONT FUCK IT ALL UP BEFORE YOU DESTROY THE ONLY BACK UP RECORD YOU HAVE.”

  232. Reginald Selkirk says

    Someone hacked ransomware gang Everest’s leak site

    A leak site used by the Everest ransomware gang was hacked and defaced this weekend, TechCrunch has learned.

    The leak site, which the ransomware gang uses to publish stolen files to extort its victims into paying a ransom demand, was replaced with a brief text note: “Don’t do crime CRIME IS BAD xoxo from Prague.”

    The site was still defaced at the time of writing. It’s not clear if the gang also experienced a data breach as a result of the hack…

  233. says

    Sky Captain @208, those statistics are really telling. Especially this: “[no] criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans now sitting in prison in El Salvador.” No criminal records.

    In other news: Many hoped Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would be a voice of reason on Team Trump. Amid the crisis caused by tariffs, those hopes have since evaporated.

    Related video at the link.

    On Wednesday afternoon, shortly after stock market trading had wrapped up for the day, Donald Trump kicked off a trade war with sweeping international trade tariffs. On Thursday, Wall Street followed international markets off a cliff.

    It was at that point that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, in apparent seriousness, that the two developments might’ve been unrelated.

    “For everyone who thinks these market declines are all based on the president’s economic policies, I can tell you that this market decline started with the Chinese AI announcement of DeepSeek,” Bessent told far-right media personality Tucker Carlson, in an interview that was released on Friday.

    Two days later, as NBC News reported, the Cabinet secretary kept talking, though he hardly made matters any better.

    In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Bessent called it a “false narrative” that people who are close to retiring may be reluctant after their retirement savings may have dropped last week because of the stock market downturn. “I think that’s a false narrative,” he told moderator Kristen Welker. “Americans who want to retire right now, the Americans who put away for years in their savings accounts, I think they don’t look at the day-to-day fluctuations.”

    [WTF?]

    Perhaps Bessent should have conversations with a wider range of people — because there were countless Americans looking at the “day-to-day fluctuations” in their retirement accounts last week.

    In the same interview, the treasury secretary — ostensibly one of the most powerful and influential figures on the planet when it comes to the economy and financial markets — told host Kristen Welker, “[W]hat I’ve been very impressed with is the market infrastructure, that we had record volume on Friday and everything is working very smoothly. So, the American people, they can be very, take great comfort in that.”

    Why would Americans take “great comfort” in the fact that trillions of dollars of wealth disappeared “very smoothly”? I’m not sure, though Bessent delivered the line as if he believed it made sense. It did not. [social media post and video at the link]

    Stepping back, it’s worth emphasizing that Bessent was hardly seen as a controversial Cabinet choice for Trump. On the contrary, he was seen as one of the president’s most mainstream personnel choices for his second term, and the Treasury secretary was confirmed with more Democratic votes than most of his fellow secretaries.

    Upon his confirmation, many hoped that Bessent would be a voice of reason in the Trump administration. On a team filled with cranks and charlatans, Bessent might be in a position to steer the president in responsible directions, serving as the proverbial “adult in the room.”

    […] MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle told viewers, “My sources say that Scott Bessent is kind of the odd man out here and, in the inner circle that Trump has, he’s not even close to Scott Bessent or listening to him. Some have said to me, he’s looking for an exit door to try to get himself to the Fed, because in the last few days he’s really hurting his own credibility and history in the markets.”

    Of course, if Bessent is worried about salvaging his credibility, he might already be too late.

    Bessent is certainly clueless when it comes to understanding the viewpoint of middle class people who may have some investments in the stock market.

  235. says

    And … here is yet another WTF moment related to Trump’s tariffs and to his comments about those tariffs.

    Did the president deliberately want to push markets lower? The more Trump addresses the question, the murkier the answer becomes.

    On Friday, as markets slid sharply in the United States and elsewhere, Donald Trump used his social media platform to amplify a deeply odd video. As Rolling Stone summarized:

    On Friday morning, the president shared a link on Truth Social to what appears to be a video claiming that he was “Purposely CRASHING The Market.” The one-minute video — originally shared March 15 on TikTok — predates the president’s tariff announcement on Wednesday. It claims that “Trump is crashing the stock market by 20 percent this month, but he’s doing it on purpose.”

    The video — which the White House did not create, but which the president nevertheless decided to promote — described Trump’s tariffs as “a genius play,” which enjoys the support of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

    Soon after, Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, issued a statement describing the comments attributed to Buffett as “false.”

    But just as notable was the circumstances themselves: [Trump] thought it’d be a good to amplify a video that said Trump was trying to push markets off a cliff on purpose, as part of an convoluted and dangerous strategy that really didn’t make any sense.

    On Saturday, Trump amplified the same video again [!] — he even briefly pinned it to the top of his feed, ensuring greater attention — which naturally raised some uncomfortable questions about whether markets were falling off a cliff or if Trump was deliberately pushing markets off a cliff.

    Kevin Hassett, the head of the White House National Economic Council, appeared on ABC News’ “This Week,” and insisted, in reference to the president, “He’s not trying to tank the market,” notwithstanding the fact that Trump promoted an online video that said he’s trying to tank the market.

    When host George Stephanopoulos reminded Hassett about the video, the White House economist said Trump is “allowed to have an opinion.” That’s certainly true in a general sense, but when the president responsible for creating an economic crisis amplifies a video that suggested he’s forcing markets lower on purpose, the fact that he’s entitled to opinions is irrelevant.

    Hours after Hassett’s on-air appearance, Trump fielded some questions aboard Air Force One — en route to the nation’s capital after a weekend of golfing in Florida — and a reporter asked about whether there a pain “threshold” that might lead him to alter course.

    “I think your question is so stupid,” the president responded. “I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”

    Of course, there was nothing “stupid” about the question […]

    As for the idea that tariffs constitute an economic “medicine,” it’s worth noting that the economy wasn’t sick […]

    It’s almost as if Trump were trying to undermine public confidence in his competence.

    Trump himself does not seem to know what the hell Trump is doing.

  237. says

    Full DC Circuit Unfires—For Now—NLRB, MSPB Board Members That Trump Lawlessly Axed

    The full U.S. Court of Appeals for DC has reinstated a member of the National Labor Relations Board and a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board that […] Trump tried to fire earlier this year. The court split 7-4.

    The ruling — on a set of district court injunctions that paused the firings — is the latest in a back and forth over the fates of these two members of independent executive branch agency boards, a dispute that recently saw a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit allow the members to be fired, and that is likely Supreme Court-bound. Trump fired the two members, Cathy Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board, in early February, moves that were quickly blocked at the district court level. The cases were later consolidated.

    At stake is a precedent, Humphreys Executor, the overturning of which would have far greater implications than just the makeup of the two boards. The Trump administration DOJ has been explicit that it is seeking to overturn a long line of jurisprudence, of which Humphreys Executor is a cornerstone, protecting the independence of such agencies within the executive branch; these agencies are run by bipartisan boards, the members of which are confirmed by the Senate.

    Should the Supreme Court overturn Humphreys Executor, it would open the door to bringing these agencies — which include the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Elections Commission and dozens of others — more fully under Trump’s sway. […]

    Judge Neomi Rao, wrote her own dissent nodding to a sweeping view of presidential power — “The Constitution vests all executive power in a single President […] The President has both the power and the responsibility to supervise and direct Executive Branch officers” as part of his mandate to “‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’).” [S]ounds like she is a Trump cult follower]

    She also denounced the lower-court injunctions — recently a frequent recent topic of conservative ire — in an argument that turned the executive branch power grab on its head. “Nothing in Anglo-American history supports the injunctive relief granted by the district court and restored by the en banc majority,” she wrote, later adding, “These orders effectively reappoint officers removed by the President and direct all other Executive Branch officials to treat the removed officers as if they were still in office.”

    Full opinion is available at the link.

  239. says

    What Trump posted today:

    The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!

    What some of Trump’s billionaire friends are saying:

    […] Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman wrote on Sunday that Trump’s “massive and disproportionate tariffs” had launched “a global economic war against the whole world at once.”

    Ackman called on Trump to declare a 90-day “time out” or else “we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.”

    Ackman endorsed Trump in 2024, arguing that he trusted Trump to deal with immigration and antisemitism. Ackman has not loudly complained about Trump’s policies abducting migrants, destroying government departments, or erasing history—but is now vocal now that the markets are affected.

    Trump’s most visible billionaire backer, Elon Musk, also voiced some concerns over the tariffs. In comments before a far-right Italian political party on Saturday, Musk said he wanted the U.S. and Europe to be in “a zero-tariff situation.” The opinion is a direct contradiction with Trump, who has inaccurately argued for years that tariffs can be used to grow American success.

    Musk also posted a message to his social media network X, criticizing Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro, who is one of the major forces behind Trump’s tariff policy.

    On the media front, one of Trump’s strongest allies, Fox Business anchor (and conspiracy theorist) Maria Bartiromo labeled the tariff issue a “debacle” during her Monday show. [video at the link]

    […] Peter Navarro appeared on CNBC on Monday and said the tariffs were “a beautiful situation.”

    […] “You don’t just throw around the idea of just tariffs across the board, and that’s part of the problem with Donald Trump,” former Vice President Kamala Harris said in September 2024.

    “I say this in all sincerity, he’s just not very serious about how he thinks about some of these issues. And one must be serious and have a plan, and a real plan that’s not just about some talking point ending in an exclamation at a political rally, but actually putting the thought into what will be the return on the investment, what will be the economic impact on everyday people.” [Yep]

  240. birgerjohansson says

    @ 238
    (Ironically, the guy in the picture is Lorenzo Lamas, a right-winger)

  241. birgerjohansson says

    Lynna, OM @ 239
    “he’s just not very serious about how he thinks about some of these issues.”
    .
    That is the understatement of the century. And took him nine years to realise this?

  242. says

    Flight attendants on deportation planes say disaster ‘only a matter of time’>a>, by ProPublica

    The deportation flight was in the air over Mexico when chaos erupted in the back of the plane, the flight attendant recalled. A little girl had collapsed. She had a high fever and was taking ragged, frantic breaths.

    The flight attendant, a young woman who went by the nickname Lala, said she grabbed the plane’s emergency oxygen bottle and rushed past rows of migrants chained at the wrists and ankles to reach the girl and her parents.

    By then, Lala was accustomed to the hard realities of working charter flights for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She’d learned to obey instructions not to look the passengers in the eyes, not to greet them or ask about their well-being. But until the girl collapsed, Lala had managed to escape an emergency.

    Lala worked for Global Crossing Airlines, the dominant player in the loose network of deportation contractors known as ICE Air. GlobalX, as the charter company is also called, is lately in the news. Two weeks ago, it helped the Trump administration fly hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador despite a federal court order blocking the deportations […]

    In interviews with ProPublica, Lala and six other current and former GlobalX flight attendants provided a window into a part of the deportation process that is rarely seen […]

    All but one of the flight attendants requested anonymity or asked that only a nickname be used, fearing retribution or black marks as they looked for new jobs in an insular industry.

    […] That morning over Mexico, Lala said, the girl’s oxygen saturation level was 70% — perilously low compared with a healthy person’s 95% or higher. Her temperature was 102.3 degrees. […]

    Lala broke the rule about talking to detainees. The parents told Lala their daughter had a history of asthma. The mom, who Lala said had epilepsy, seemed on the verge of her own medical crisis.

    Lala placed the oxygen mask on the girl’s face. […] counted down the minutes, praying for the girl to keep breathing.

    The stories shared by ICE Air flight attendants paint a different picture of deportations from the one presented to the public, especially under President Donald Trump. On social media, the White House has depicted a military operation carried out with ruthless efficiency, using Air Force C-17s, ICE agents in tactical vests and soldiers in camo.

    The reality is that 85% of the administration’s “removal” flights — 254 flights as of March 21, according to the advocacy group Witness at the Border — have been on charter planes. […] While there are ICE officers and hired security guards on the charters, the crew members on board are civilians, ordinary people swept up in something most didn’t knowingly sign up for.

    When the flight attendants joined GlobalX, it was a startup with big plans. It sold investors and new hires alike on a vision of VIP clients, including musicians and sports teams, and luxury destinations, especially in the Caribbean. “You can’t beat the eXperience,” read a company tagline.

    But as the airline grew, more and more of its planes were filled with migrants in chains. Some flight attendants were livid about it. [snipped examples]

    […] flight attendants were most concerned about their inability to treat their passengers humanely — and to keep them safe. […]

    They worried about what would happen in an emergency. Could they really get over a hundred chained passengers off the plane in time? […] “They didn’t tell us these people were going to be shackled, wrists to fucking ankles.”

    “We have never gotten a clear answer on what we do in an ICE Air evacuation,” another said. “They will not give us an answer.”

    […] The real reason for having flight attendants is safety. GlobalX was certified by the FAA as a Part 121 scheduled air carrier, the same as United or Delta, and it and its crew members were subject to the same strict standards.

    “We’re there to evacuate you,” one recruit told ProPublica. “Yes, we make good drinks, but we evacuate you.”

    Lala’s class practiced water landings in the pool at the nearby Pan Am Flight Academy. They practiced door drills — yelling out commands, shoving open heavy exit doors — in a replica Airbus A320 cabin. They learned CPR and how to put out fires. They took written and physical tests, and if they didn’t score at least 90%, they had to retake them.

    […] The company was growing beyond glamorous charters. GlobalX was moving into the deportation business.

    Her bosses delivered the news casually, she recalled: “It was like, ‘Oh yeah, we got a government contract.’”

    The new graduates were offered a single posting: Harlingen, Texas. Deportation flights were five days a week, sometimes late into the night. Lala went to Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and, for refueling, Panama.

    A standard flight had more than a dozen private security guards — contractors working for the firm Akima — along with a single ICE officer, two nurses, and a hundred or more detainees. […]

    The flights had their own set of rules, which the crew members said they learned from a company policy manual or from chief flight attendants. Don’t talk to the detainees. Don’t feed them. Don’t make eye contact. Don’t walk down the aisles without a guard escorting you. Don’t sit in aisle seats, where detainees could get close to you. Don’t wear your company-issued scarf because of “safety concerns that a detainee might grab it and use it against us,” Lala said.

    […] Lala had been scared before her first deportation flight, worried that violence might break out. But fear soon gave way to discomfort at how detainees were treated. “Not being able to serve them, not being able to look at them, I didn’t think that was right,” she said.

    […] The guards often asked flight attendants to heat up the food they brought from home. They asked for drinks, for ice. “They treated us like we were their maids,” said Akilah Sisk, a former flight attendant from Texas.

    […] “One reported me because I asked him to sit down in the last 10 minutes,” Sisk said. “But you’re still on a freaking plane. You gotta listen to our words.”

    Flight attendants said that if they told guards to fasten seatbelts during takeoff or stow carry-ons under a seat, they risked getting reported to their bosses at GlobalX, who they said wanted to keep ICE happy. […]

    “We’d get an email from somebody in management: ‘Why are you guys causing problems?’” another flight attendant recalled. “They were more worried about losing the contract than about anything else.”

    Nothing bothered flight attendants more than the fact that most of their passengers were in chains. What would happen if a flight had to be evacuated?

    […] ICE makes restraints mandatory nonetheless. [snipped details about mandatory and may-be-used restraints]

    […] Shackled detainees didn’t even qualify as “able-bodied” enough to sit in exit rows.

    […] According to formal ICE Air incident reports reviewed by Capital & Main, the deportation network had at least six accidents requiring evacuations between 2014 and 2019. In at least two cases, both on a carrier called World Atlantic, the evacuations were led not by flight attendants but by untrained guards. Both took longer than 90 seconds, though not by much: two-and-a-half minutes for the first, “less than 2 minutes” for the next. But in a third case, it took seven minutes for 115 shackled detainees to escape a smoke-filled jet.

    […] The rare guidance some flight attendants said they received on carrying out ICE Air evacuations came during briefings from pilots. What they heard, they said, was chilling and went against their training.

    “Just get up and leave,” one recalled a GlobalX pilot telling him. “That’s it. … Save your life first.”

    […] said pilots gave them instructions that they took to mean they shouldn’t help detainees after opening the exit doors.

    […] “It was as if the detainees’ lives were worthless,” […]

    The day the girl collapsed on Lala’s flight, the pilot turned the plane around and they crossed back into the United States.

    The flight landed in Arizona. Paramedics rushed on board and connected the girl to their own oxygen bottle. They began shuttling her off the plane. Her parents tried to join. But the guards stopped the father.

    Shocked, Lala approached the ICE officer in charge. “This is not OK!” she yelled. The mom had seizures. The family needed to stay together.

    But the officer said it was impossible. Only one parent could go to the hospital. The other, as Lala understood it, “was going to get deported.”

    […] Lala eventually left because of the little girl and her family, because she couldn’t do the deportation flights anymore. […] “I cried after that,” she said. She bought her own ticket home.

  244. says

    Republicans are about to make everything a whole lot worse

    House Speaker Mike Johnson is set to put a Senate-passed tax cut bill up for a vote on Wednesday that would put Republicans one step closer to slashing taxes for the rich while at the same time cutting critical benefits like Medicaid and food stamps.

    The Senate passed their budget version in the wee hours of Saturday morning, which would explode the deficit by $5.8 trillion over the next decade in order to extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers.

    While the Senate budget does not call for the more than $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid or $230 billion in cuts to food stamps, House Republican leadership is urging Republicans to pass the Senate bill so they can move to the next step of the budget reconciliation process—in which Republicans will have to put actual pen to paper to say what cuts they will make, rather than just provide topline numbers.

    House Republican leaders are trying to sell the Senate budget to angry rank-and-file House GOP lawmakers by saying they will still be able to make the massive cuts to Medicaid and food stamps […]

    Johnson made that pitch in a Dear Colleague letter he sent to Republicans on Saturday after the Senate budget passed.

    […] House Republicans want to cut critical social safety net programs that provide medical coverage and food assistance to low-income Americans at the same time that Trump is crashing the global economy by imposing nonsensical tariffs on nearly every country on the planet.

    […] Never bet against Republicans making the absolute wrong decision in the name of Trump.

    More at the link.

  245. says

    […] Trump on Monday threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on imports from China, a massive escalation of a potential trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

    […] The White House last Wednesday announced it would impose a 34 percent tariff on Chinese imports as part of “reciprocal” tariffs against dozens of countries.

    Beijing responded by announcing a 34 percent tariff on American imports, leading to Trump’s warning on Monday.

    Trump said in a post on Truth Social that China made the move, “despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set.”

    “Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump added. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”

    Trump said negotiations with other countries would begin taking place “immediately.”

    The White House had already imposed a 20 percent tariff on Chinese imports over fentanyl concerns, meaning China could face an effective tariff rate as high as 70 percent.

    Link

  246. says

    […] While “The Handmaid’s Tale” was wrapping its finale, Trump signed an executive order declaring that there are only “two sexes,” pardoned antiabortion protesters, cut off foreign aid for reproductive health and enforced a “global gag rule” that bars federal funds to any foreign organization such as International Planned Parenthood Federation that provides abortion services, counseling or referrals.

    Pronatalism is on the rise, with Vice President JD Vance declaring, “I want more babies in the United States.” Civil rights activists fear that other Project 2025 agenda items — a federal abortion ban, restricting access to birth control and surveilling women to track births and abortions — may still be on the table.

    “We thought we were done with Trump, and we were hoping that the show could be more of a fictional narrative, which it was always meant to be,” co-showrunner Yahlin Chang says. “And then suddenly we landed in a second Trump presidency, where things are even worse. As a TV writer, you make stuff up. You imagine an alternate reality where bad s— happens, and it’s really astonishing to see it all come to fruition in real life.”
    “The dark joke I make,” says Bradley Whitford, who plays the enigmatic Cmdr. Joseph Lawrence, “is that this moment is like the worst ‘Handmaid’s’ episode ever. … June is about to be executed, and she turns to the camera, and she says, ‘But I hear they’re really incompetent.’”

    […] “The Handmaid’s Tale” is the most egalitarian of sets, by design. Everyone calls each other “boss,” including Moss, who is producing, directing and starring in the second episode of the show’s final season — one of four she will direct, including the two-part premiere and the two-part series finale.

    […] “I think the reason why we seem predictive is that we have to get into the minds of these characters who are running an authoritarian regime,” Chang says. “And so, imaginatively, we’re just like, okay, if you’re a really flawed human being who is incredibly selfish and only thinks about what’s good for you, and doesn’t give a crap about anyone else, and follows all your worst impulses, what would you do?” […]

    Washington Post link

    Much more at the link.

  247. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Lynna @246:

    JD Vance declaring, “I want more babies in the United States.”

    Also Republicans: Please clap.

    NYT – A federal lab that tracked rising S.T.I.s has been shuttered

    Among the [CDC] employees fired on Tuesday were 77 scientists who […] gathered samples of gonorrhea and other S.T.I.s from labs nationwide, analyzed the genetic information for signs of drug resistance, and readied the samples for storage at a secure facility.

    No other researchers at the agency have the expertise, or the software, to continue this work. The abrupt halt has stranded about 1,000 samples of gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted pathogens that had not yet been processed, and perhaps dozens more headed to the agency.

    There are as many as 30 freezers full of samples that now have no custodians […] “We were just really shut down midair, like there was no warning,” the official said. “It was just completely unplanned and chaotic.”
    […]
    About 600,000 new gonorrhea cases were diagnosed in the United States in 2023. […] Left untreated, it can cause infertility and sterility, blindness in infants or even death.

    Gonorrhea has become resistant to nearly every available antibiotic, leaving a single class […] some evidence hints that gonorrhea is evolving to sidestep even that treatment.

    Over more than 25 years, the C.D.C. lab archived about 50,000 gonorrhea samples—the largest collection in the world—which allow scientists to track how the pathogen has changed over time. It’s not clear what will happen to the samples.

  248. Reginald Selkirk says

    @236

    It’s Window Safety Week.
    Protect kids from window falls, America!

    I wonder if they have the same thing in Russia; except directed at oligarchs, not children.

  250. says

    Text quoted by Sky Captain @247:

    “It was just completely unplanned and chaotic.”

    Yep. That sounds like an apt description of everything Trump and Musk are overseeing. What a disaster. The lack of planning causes even more damage.

    Ditto for the chaotic rollout of Trump’s tariffs, and for his chaotic followup.

    Related news report: The more Trump’s Wall Street backers recoil in reaction to the agenda they helped advance, the easier it is to wonder what they expected to happen.

    […] Executives, many of whom backed Donald Trump’s candidacy last year, responded to the White House’s trade tariffs with “anger, anxiety, frustration, and fear.”

    The Times’ report added, “One prominent deals lawyer described himself as ‘flabbergasted’ as he grappled with how far the share prices of his clients had fallen. A top Goldman Sachs executive summed up the frustration with Mr. Trump succinctly: Someone has to stop him.”

    […] Reactions like these reminded me of a recent Washington Post column from Catherine Rampell, a new MSNBC anchor, who marveled at the degree to which Wall Street is “shocked that President Donald Trump is destroying the robust economy he inherited.

    ”Were any of these people watching the same campaign the rest of the country saw? Trump’s self-sabotaging agenda was not subtext; it was explicit text, often delivered in all caps. He devoted much more time in his rally speeches to trade wars and fantasies of retaliation against personal enemies than to corporate tax breaks. And some commentators (ahem) tried to convey that even if those precious tax cuts passed, there’s a lot more to capitalism than low taxes.

    The column was published two weeks before the White House rolled out its radical tariffs agenda, sending global markets into a tailspin.

    Rampell added, “C-suite executives and market analysts have no excuses for getting Trump’s economic agenda wrong. They are paid to make accurate predictions and to follow incremental regulatory and legislative developments. They were supposed to know that the ‘Tariff Man’ might raise tariffs, and that the guardrails were being dismantled. They went into this eyes-wide-open.”

    […] “Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party refers to a parody of regretful voters who vote for cruel and unjust policies (and politicians) and are then surprised when their own lives become worse as a result.”

    It appears to have started in 2015 with someone who wrote, “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.” […]

  251. says

    Reuters: “US Justice Dept mobilized armed Marshals to warn ex-lawyer over congressional testimony, letter shows”

    The U.S. Justice Department sent armed U.S. Marshals to deliver a letter warning a fired career pardon attorney about testifying to congressional Democrats, her lawyer said in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday.

    “This highly unusual step of directing armed law enforcement officers to the home of a former Department of Justice employee who has engaged in no misconduct, let alone criminal conduct, simply to deliver a letter, is both unprecedented and completely inappropriate,” Michael Bromwich, a lawyer representing fired pardon attorney Liz Oyer, wrote to the Justice Department.

    The Marshals were called off on Friday only after Oyer acknowledged having received the letter by email, Bromwich wrote.

    […] Oyer has since told various media outlets that her firing came shortly after she declined to recommend restoring gun rights to actor Mel Gibson, a supporter of President Donald Trump.

    She is one of several Justice Department officials slated to testify on Monday afternoon before a hearing organized by Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate about the Trump administration’s treatment of the Justice Department and law firms who act in cases disliked by the Republican president.

    Democratic U.S. Senator Adam Schiff of California called the mobilization of the Marshals to deliver a letter an effort to “intimidate and silence” Oyer, while U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland compared it to a move “ripped straight from the gangster playbook.”

    In the letter to Oyer, Associate Deputy Attorney General Kendra Wharton said that the department has “significant confidentiality interests.”

    […] Bromwich, in his letter to Blanche, said the claim that her testimony is barred by executive privilege is “baseless” and that she is entitled to certain legal protections for whistleblowers. He added that he is referring the matter for review to the Justice Department’s inspector general.

    Link

  252. says

    Social Security website keeps crashing, as DOGE demands cuts to IT staff. That is a Washington Post link.

    Retirees and disabled people are facing chronic website outages and other access problems as they attempt to log in to their online Social Security accounts, even as they are being directed to do more of their business with the agency online.

    The website has crashed repeatedly in recent weeks, with outages lasting anywhere from 20 minutes to almost a day, according to six current and former officials with knowledge of the issues. Even when the site is back online, many customers have not been able to sign in to their accounts — or have logged in only to find information missing. For others, access to the system has been slow, requiring repeated tries to get in.

    The problems come as the Trump administration’s cost-cutting team, led by Elon Musk, has imposed a downsizing that’s led to 7,000 job cuts and is preparing to push out thousands more employees at an agency that serves 73 million Americans. The new demands from Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service include a 50 percent cut to the technology division responsible for the website and other electronic access.

    Many of the network outages appear to be caused by an expanded fraud check system imposed by the DOGE team, current and former officials said. The technology staff did not test the new software against a high volume of users to see if the servers could handle the rush, these officials said.

    The technology issues have been particularly alarming for some of the most vulnerable Social Security customers. For almost two days last week, for example, many of the 7.4 million adults and children receiving monthly benefits under the anti-poverty program known as Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, confronted a jarring message that claimed they were “currently not receiving payments,” agency officials acknowledged in an internal email to staff.

    […] The chaos could accelerate starting April 14, when new identification measures are set to take effect that will require millions of customers applying for benefits to authenticate their identity online, part of the administration’s campaign to root out allegedly fraudulent claims.

    […] The downed programs included tools employees use to schedule visits, to see who has booked an appointment and to check who has arrived, the employee said. It is unheard-of for the system to fail this often, and each outage has led to chaos, they said.

    […] The network crashes appear to be caused by an expansion initiated by the Trump team of an existing contract with a credit-reporting agency that tracks names, addresses and other personal information to verify customers’ identities. The enhanced fraud checks are now done earlier in the claims process and have resulted in a boost to the volume of customers who must pass the checks.

    […] Connectivity issues and bugs with the expanded system have caused the portal that manages log-ins and authentication for many Social Security applications to go down, officials said. […]

    I snipped several examples of people trying to connect for days. “Raniolo kept trying — three to five times a day, every day, for the next five days. He tried at different times. He tried using his phone instead of his Chromebook. He tried different internet browsers: Chrome, Edge, DuckDuckGo. Nothing worked. By last Monday evening, he still had not managed to get into his account to change his emergency contact. [His wife, the previous emergency contact] has dementia.]”

  253. says

    Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s space company was recently handed a $5.9 billion contract subsidized by taxpayers, even as his so-called Department of Government Efficiency continues to take a wrecking ball to key government agencies.

    The U.S. Space Force announced on April 4 that Musk’s SpaceX was among three companies awarded government contracts for the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 2 program. Space X will receive more than $5.9 billion of the $13.7 billion in spending that was announced.

    Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and owns approximately 42% of the company.

    While SpaceX is newly flush with government money, Musk’s DOGE has been laying off critical federal workers at multiple agencies. Federal judges have ruled that some of those firings are illegal. […]

    Link

  254. says

    Ha!

    Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia announced early Monday that he pulled in a jaw-dropping $11 million in the first quarter of 2025, which his team says is the largest ever Q1 haul for an incumbent senator during an off year.

    “I’m grateful to the hundreds of thousands of record-shattering supporters who have already joined what will be the biggest and most relentless turnout effort in Georgia history,” Ossoff said in a statement.

    Ossoff’s campaign says the $11 million came from an average donation of just $32, with contributions rolling in from 156 of Georgia’s 159 counties. Nearly 260,000 individual donors chipped in, including 155,000 first-timers.

    That’s a serious flex for someone who doesn’t even have an opponent yet.

    The announcement dropped just days after the Senate GOP’s top outside political operation launched a seven-figure ad blitz against Ossoff—using tired, transphobic talking points in a bid to turn voters against him. […]

    Link

  255. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Follow-up on ordering the return of Abrego Garcia @192.

    Kyle Cheney (Politico):

    The 4th Circuit has *denied* the Trump administration’s effort to resist an order to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States by midnight tonight. Judge Xinis’ order is still in effect.

    The panel, which ruled unanimously, scolds the Justice Department for penalizing the lawyers who argued the case. “The duty of zealous representation is tempered by the duty of candor to the court … and the duty to uphold the rule of law.”

    Judge Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, says the Trump administration’s position on Abrego Garcia amounts to a “path of perfect lawlessness.”
    –
    Trump is asking the Supreme Court to block

    Joe Dudek (Attorney):

    What a sentence: “Contrary to the government’s position, ‘upholding constitutional rights surely serves the public interest.'”

     
    Anna Bower (Lawfare):

    Interesting choice of words in the government’s SCOTUS application, which refers to Abrego Garcia as an “enemy alien.”

    The government has claimed that Garcia was removed under the Immigration and Nationality Act, **not** the Alien Enemies Act. (Worth noting, too, that the government has alleged that Garcia is a member of MS-13. But there the Alien Enemies Act proclamation that Trump issued last month relates to Tren de Aragua, not MS-13.)

    To be clear, the government reiterates in this same brief that Abrego Garcia was on a plane of people removed pursuant to the INA, not the AEA. So they’re not changing their argument on that point, though using the “enemy alien” language is odd imo given the background.

    Rando: “Didn’t the gov’t admit is was an administrative error?”

    Rando: “They want the SCOTUS to agree it’s an emergency for them NOT to repatriate an innocent man they deported to a Central American gulag BY MISTAKE.”

    Gabriel Malor (Apellate attorney): “And the AEA Proclamation only covers Venezuelans, which Abrego is indisputably not.”

    Rando: “I love that they have little to offer the Court as far as evidence of his MS-13 connection, but they do fully inform the Court what is a pupusa. [Screenshot of a footnote about Salvadoran cuisine]”

    EmptyWheel: “Ut oh. Now we can grill [Solicitor General] John Sauer about DOJ lying about the third plane [of alleged MS-13].”
     
    Kyle Cheney:

    The administration seems to take two positions on MS-13.

    In the Abrego Garcia case, it says bringing a suspected MS-13 member back to the US is dangerous, even if he remains detained, because MS-13 can be violent and recruit others in US facilities.

    Yet the Trump administration has repeatedly touted its efforts to extradite nunmerous MS-13 leaders TO the US for prosecution.

     
     
    Trump said he wants more of this, and worse, of course.
    Southpaw:

    Trump includes, in his description of people he wants to traffic to El Salvador, American citizens who were not convicted of serious alleged crimes because they got a judge who was more attuned to political considerations. [Video clip]
    [Photo: Judge Aileen Cannon]

  256. says

    The Trump administration is planning a June 14 military parade through the streets of Washington, D.C., to mark the president’s 79th birthday.

    It will also mark the Army’s 250th anniversary. A senior administration official confirmed the plans to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network.

    Washington City Paper first reported on the parade, noting it will stretch almost 4 miles from the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., to the White House.

    An Army official confirmed the parade’s length to The Hill, and said that “there are plans for a parade that will involve the Army,” adding that nothing is yet solidified. […]

    Putinesque

  257. says

    NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Offering a remedy to last week’s devastating crash on global stock markets, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday that the plummeting trend could be reversed if investors would drink high doses of cod liver oil.

    “Stocks are crashing because investors are in a bad mood, and the reason they are in a bad mood is because they are not getting enough Omega-3 fatty acids,” he said. “This is what caused the Great Depression.”

    Bolstering the credibility of his suggestion, he added, “Dr. Oz is with me on this.”

    Kennedy’s prescription, however, was met with skepticism from financial experts, who noted that tariffs on cod liver oil had made the liquid virtually unaffordable.

    Link

  258. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Aaron Rupar:

    [Commerce Sec] Lutnick: “The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones—that kind of thing is going to come to America.” [Video clip]

    Rando 1: “So… MAGA’s dream is for the US to be a sweat shop making trinkets for the wealthy.”

    Kelly Evans (CNBC):

    Listen to what [Treas Sec] Bessent is saying.
    “The president is reordering trade,” he told Tucker Carlson. “We are shedding excess labor in the federal government and bringing down federal borrowings. And then on the other side that will give us the labor that we need for the new manufacturing” here in the U.S.

    Patrick Meyers (Biden WH/USAID/DoD):

    I’m sorry, but isn’t this just the Cultural Revolution 2.0? Why on earth would fired aid workers and NIH medical researchers go to work on assembly lines for worse salaries in jobs they don’t know how to do? Why are they getting their economic policy from Mao?

    Rando 2: “The most insane part about this is Americans were not hurting for jobs, they are hurting for better wages or cheaper groceries but the unemployment rate had been at historic lows before all this!”

    Rando 3: “That is, I suspect, precisely why they are doing this”

  259. Reginald Selkirk says

    Trump gives China one day to end retaliations or face extra 50% tariffs

    Tech companies’ worst nightmare ahead of Donald Trump’s election has already come true, as the US and China are now fully engaged in a tit-for-tat trade war, where China claims it expects to be better positioned to withstand US blows long-term.

    Trump has claimed that Americans must take their “medicine,” bearing any pains from tariffs while waiting for supposed long-term gains from potentially pressuring China—and every other country, including islands of penguins—into a more favorable trade deal. On Monday, tech companies across the US likely winced when Trump threatened to heap “additional” 50 percent tariffs on China, after China announced retaliatory 34 percent tariffs on US imports and restricted US access to rare earth metals.

    Posting on Truth Social, Trump gave China one day to withdraw tariffs to avoid higher US tariffs…

  260. whheydt says

    Re: Reginald Selkirk @ #259…
    As the tariffs between China and the US ratchet up and up, just wait for the MAGA types to find out they can’t afford to buy new MAGA hats (which are made in….China).

  261. says

    Link

    Josh Marshall:

    […] Just after Paul, Weiss cut their deal with President Trump, I spoke to a number of people either at the firm or proximate to it. One thing they helped me understand is that for firms like that, with a big M&A practice centered on partners with books of business ranging well into the tens of millions of dollars, it’s not just the clients who disappear in a flash. The money-making partners can too. So these vast, hugely money-making entities are actually quite fragile in their own way. The equivalent of a bank run dynamic and poof, they’re gone. But law firms come and law firms go. It is what it is.

    I’ve gotten used to not expecting much from Barack Obama’s rare forays into the public realm in recent years. But he’s right in his latest speech. Universities need to be ready to do without federal funding in order to play their role in our society, as bulwarks of civil society. I don’t discount the extreme challenge of that. It’s easy to talk big until you have to pay people’s salaries. I know that from personal experience. But the reality is simple. I’m not saying universities should write off public moneys for their missions and especially public support for scientific research. But if universities aren’t prepared to do without it, when push comes to shove, they’ve lost before they begin.

    This won’t come as a surprise to anyone. But it’s worth saying nonetheless. The modern major university presidency has become largely one of fundraising and managing all that goes into and comes out of fundraising. That made sense in a different era. But it’s a different skillset than leading a bulwark of civil society during an attempted autocratic takeover. If your university president doesn’t have or isn’t willing to use that skillset, you probably need a different university president.

    From a number of quarters I have seen evidence that universities are preparing themselves to play this role. […] the White House hit them on issues on which they were themselves institutionally divided — reaction to the 2023/24 Gaza protests, post-2016 DEI. The White House has exerted full control over the tens of billions of dollars that the United States government uses to fund basic research both internally at institutions like NIH and also at universities and research centers around the country. But research, especially biomedical research, can be more than just a vast undefended vulnerability. It can actually be an offensive weapon, not just for universities but for the opposition to Donald Trump’s oligarchic autocracy more generally.

    I have spent a lot of time in the last few months talking to people at NIH, people in the biomedical research world and also outside that world. My biggest takeaway, with new examples just over this weekend, is this: most people outside that world, indeed, most people even in that world outside of NIH, don’t grasp what’s happening to the world of disease research and cure-finding. […]. people have a very difficult time believing it. […]. It’s very hard to get people to believe that anyone is trying to end research into finding cures for diseases that affect everyone. The richest people get cancer and Alzheimers and Parkinson’s. Just yesterday I heard second-hand from a power player in our society saying, “That makes no sense. Who would go after cancer research?” And yet it is happening.

    As I have had these many conversations, what has coalesced in my mind is that the people on the front lines of this battle — the basic science researchers, the MD-PhDs, the early career research fellows, the peer reviewers, the major lab managers — are operating through the lines of power and streams of funding that the Trump-Musk reactionaries have secured control over. […]

    The community of research scientists is also thinking and arguing in the language and concept structure of grants, peer review cycles, studies, ecosystems of training new generations of research physicians. That language is alien and irrelevant to the vast bulk of the population. I don’t say that dismissively. I was raised by a PhD life scientist. I spent my 20s getting a doctorate myself, albeit not in the sciences. I understand it. I get its importance. In most respects it is my native language. But it has little to no valence or traction in itself with the public at large and the path to reversing the trajectory of destruction is by going to the public at large. That revolves entirely around the end-product the public has an immediate interest in and understanding of: not wanting to die or have a loved one die of a disease advanced research might be able to prevent or cure. […] The White House and DOGE have entered the war on cancer on the side of cancer. […]

    There are disease communities around every major disease in this country — breast cancer, colon cancer, Alzheimers, etc. I don’t mean the professional societies. I mean, the organizations and informal communities of people who are survivors, who’ve been directly affected by these afflictions, who have genetic predispositions, who are doctors and caregivers. It is totally outside the experience and comfort zone of people from the research community to speak directly to what we might call the end user and say your chance at a cure or your child’s cure is going up in flames as we speak. […] No single line of research is a sure thing but biomedical research as a whole really is. There are pre-existing networks and communities of concern waiting to hear this urgent message and they are, at present, not hearing it. […]

    Quite simply, until elected officials start hearing from angry constituents in town halls who are pissed that their futures and the futures of their loved ones are being lit on fire for no reason, then nothing matters. The first front in this war has already been lost. The second front, where the forces of cures, treatments and health have the advantage, has only barely gotten off the ground. […] [Perform] a colossal end-run or flanking maneuver that your foes aren’t prepared for or expecting and beat them that way. […] speak to people in language they understand […]

    What I’m describing here also connects up with the universities, where a lot of this research takes place and which are home to a lot of academic medical centers which are the places many communities rely on for their health care.

  263. says

    Another kid is dead as worst measles outbreak in decades surges.

    An 8-year-old Texas child died of pulmonary failure as a result of measles, marking the third confirmed measles death and the second death of a child from measles to occur in the United States in decades. Both children were unvaccinated.

    “[T]here are 642 confirmed cases of measles across 22 states, 499 of those in Texas,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on X.

    Kennedy also announced that he was traveling to Texas to offer condolences to the family of the recently deceased child.

    While the infamous anti-vaxxer failed to mention that the majority of cases are in unvaccinated children, he did admit that the MMR vaccine is the “most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.” [social media post at the link]

    As the measles outbreak rages on, Kennedy has admitted that the MMR vaccine is the most effective way to fight against the disease, while also undermining the necessity of vaccinations. In public appearances, such as on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Kennedy said it was better to get infected with measles than to be vaccinated.

    Texas HHS has confirmed that, while most confirmed cases remain primarily in the western part of the state, new cases have emerged in central Texas and a concerning rise in the northeast region. Meanwhile, New Mexico has reported more than 50 cases, and Kansas has reported 24.

    At the same time, Kennedy’s nonprofit Children’s Health Defense Fund continues to promote dangerously uninformed science about vaccines and measles, falsely claiming that poor medical treatments are to blame for the recent deaths.[1} The organization is also pushing vitamin A supplements, which not only can’t cure nor stop the spread of measles, but can actually be toxic for children. [!]

    Outside of offering “comfort” to grieving families, Kennedy’s actions belie any meaningful scientific or medically proven solutions to stopping this public health nightmare.

    As HHS secretary, Kennedy has slashed public health research budgets, fired tens of thousands of federal health care workers, and promoted anti-vaccine goons like David Geier.

    So while Kennedy may occasionally acknowledge the importance of vaccines, his actions and continued encouragement of anti-vaccine rhetoric consistently undermines any public health efforts.

  265. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Aaron Rupar:

    Trump: “I said to [the former hostages], was there any sign of love? Did Hamas show any signs of, like, help or liking you? Did they give you a piece of bread extra? Did they give you a meal on the side? Like what happened in Germany.”
    [Video clip]

    Y’know, all that food that Israel allowed into Gaza.

    Rando: “[Goose chasing meme: Like what happened in Germany?]”

    Rando: “He’s praising Nazis here, to be clear.”

    Laura Bassett (The Cut): “He appears to be suggesting here that Nazis winked at prisoners in concentration camps and slipped them snacks to ‘show love.'”

    Mike Rothschild: “Did you get your unlimited breadsticks like in Dachau?”

    Rando: “The worst part is that I can easily see ‘Hamas treated their Jewish hostages worse than the Nazis during the Holocaust’ becoming a prominent Zionist revisionist talking point.”

    Rando:

    He also, for the second time said that he was surprised that parents of killed hostages wanted their bodies back. He didn’t understand why. That admission of where he stands literally sent shivers down my spine. He has no empathy. But he knows how to use empathy to play with his audience’s emotions.

    Yes, that really happened.

    Fox – Full: President Trump, Israeli PM Netanyahu speak from White House (51:33)

    (26:01): [The bread clip.]
    (45:06): I’ve had Israeli parents come up to me at events and say, “My son is there […] He’s dead […] Could you bring his body back home?”

    They talked about a young dead boy and a young dead girl like they were living. And that could have something to do with religion. That could have something to do with I guess maybe any parent would be? I was surprised. They said, “Sir, […] it is just as important to bring that body back home—I asked that question—as if he were alive.”

    Yep, Netanyahu was sitting beside him.

  266. birgerjohansson says

    Lynna, OM @ 250
    “It appears to have started in 2015 with someone who wrote, “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.” […]

    I could be mistaken, but I think this comes from Britain.

  267. says

    ]…] DeAngelis [host Jackie DeAngelis on Fox Business] asked Senator Tommy Tuberville for his “take” on the story [fencing, and trans competitor, see comment 102], which gave him the opportunity to wander through a word forest like Little Red Riding Hood as she made her way to Grandma’s house:

    “We have entire men’s teams across the country now that are turning trans. Women’s teams, they’re turning trans. That’s going to be a situation where it’s going to pick up speed because these woke globalists are pushing kids to say, if you can’t compete in men’s sports, let’s just transition and say you’re a woman and participate in women’s sports. It is dead wrong, and we’ve gotta stand up against it, but the Democrats are all in on keeping this situation going.”

    Entire men’s teams turning trans! […]

    For the record, the NCAA says that out of half a million or so students participating nationwide in college athletics, fewer than 10 are transgender. Yes, 10. With one zero.

    Good God. The man sounds like an AI language model trained exclusively on Matt Walsh podcasts. [video at the link]

    Earlier, we got Tuberville’s take on potential cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. They are not cuts, he practically cried, we’re just reforming them and cutting the fraud! Which is what Republicans say every time they threaten to cut these programs. But there’s a reason, and please let the braindead football coach explain to you plebes how the government works:

    “We run a huge business here. And this business right now is not going by the rules. I mean, it is absolutely just giving money away.”

    With some politicians, you’d say that deep down, they know government is a service provider, not a business. No one expects to make a profit by funding Medicare and Social Security, because that is not the fucking point of Medicare and Social Security. Does Tuberville know this, though? We do not think he does.

    We also got Tuberville’s thoughts on tariffs, as seen through the poor car companies and catfish farmers of Alabama, who are going out of business because Vietnam also dares to have both catfish and people who fish them for a living:

    “Just in my state of Alabama, catfish farmers are going under because Vietnam is dumping billions of trash catfish and shrimp into our state, and they are going under, and we have to change course. And we have five car manufacturers in our state and they’re really not concerned because it’s going to help them sell more cars in this country. Eventually these cars will go out of the country and will be bought by Europe, which hardly buys any of our cars.” […]

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/tommy-tuberville-pissed-only-trans

  268. Reginald Selkirk says

    @239

    Musk Melts Down at Trump’s Tariff Guru as Feud Goes Public

    Elon Musk has taken a massive swipe at President Donald Trump’s trade adviser amid the deepening economic chaos caused by the sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs.

    In a Saturday X post, the Tesla CEO ripped Peter Navarro as someone who “ain’t built s–t” and shaded his Harvard PhD in economics as “a bad thing, not a good thing.”

    Musk, who’s openly expressed disdain for Ivy League institutions, commented, “yup” under a quote from U.S. economist Thomas Sowell that read: “In every disaster throughout American history, there always seems to be a man from Harvard in the middle of it.”

    He also seemed to suggest that Navarro had an excess of self-confidence and a dearth of actual intelligence, writing “results in the ego/brains>> 1 problem.” …

    At a videoconference with the Italian far-right League party later on Saturday, Musk called for Europe and the U.S. to move toward a “zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free-trade zone.” …

    The context of that last remark is interesting.

  269. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: Lynna @263:

    So while Kennedy may occasionally acknowledge the importance of vaccines, his actions and continued encouragement of anti-vaccine rhetoric consistently undermines any public health efforts.

    Even worse.

    WaPo – RFK Jr. visits Texas after second child dies of measles

    Hours after his pro-vaccine post, Kennedy followed up with photos of his visit to Texas, including with two doctors he described as “extraordinary healers”
    […]
    Ben Edwards, one of the doctors […] earlier in the outbreak describing mass infection as “God’s version of measles immunization.” Richard Bartlett, the other, has inaccurately touted the steroid treatment as a cure for covid-19 and was disciplined by Texas medical regulators in 2003 for inappropriate use of antibacterial and steroid treatments.

    Rachel Maddow (MSNBC): “He did this just after going to the funeral of an 8 year old girl. He walks away from where the hearse is idling and immediately starts hyping this stuff again.”

    A comment last month reported that RFK Jr’s org has been directly fundraising so Ben Edwards can offer his quackery free to draw families away from actual medicine.

  271. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Follow-up on the Abrego Garcia SCOTUS appeal @255.
    It’s bad.

    Max Kennerly:

    The Trump admin makes this argument under the guise of discussing an “alien,” but their argument is in no way limited to aliens. If courts can’t order a person be returned from El Salvador, where the feds sent them and can get them back, the courts can’t do it for citizens either.

     
    Steve Vladeck:

    5-4 Court, with Barrett joining the three Dem. appointees in dissent *vacates* Chief Judge Boasberg’s temporary restraining orders in the Alien Enemy Act cases. Judicial review must be available, Court holds, but has to come through habeas petitions.

    Thread of dissents and docket link here.

    Rando:

    it was set up as a class action to enjoin the systemic decision to remove these people with no due process. Now every single detainee needs to file a separate lawsuit. It’s a functionally impossible requirement for an unknown number of the people our country has exported for slave labor.

    Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “individual habeas corpus lawsuits. Many people in detention don’t have any money to hire a lawyer.”

    Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “there is an extremely important caveat: SCOTUS says (but offers no way to require the government to do this […]) that anyone subject to the law must get notice and enough time to file a habeas lawsuit.”

    Betty Bowers (Comedian): “If judicial review *must* be available, why isn’t Trump being ordered to return everyone sent to El Salvador who was deprived of this right?”
     
    A proposal for a rapid-response network.
    Matthew Stiegler (Appellate lawyer):

    When a person is abducted, there’s a number to call to report & identify. A habeas petition challenging the abduction is electronically filed in that district, by a lawyer admitted in that district, within 30 minutes of the call. Anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day. Nothing else is good enough. Does anyone know if something like this is being built already?

    Those motherfuckers think they can make us litigate all of these cases in the Fifth Circuit.
    […]
    I’m a habeas expert. A habeas petition can only be filed in the federal district where the petitioner is at the moment of filing. So if you live in Philly, get abducted in Philly, then get whisked immediately to Louisiana before you can file your petition, then Louisiana is the only place your petition can be filed. If you file it somewhere else, then, at best, it gets tranferred there. That means a Louisiana judge decides your case, with any appeal to the Fifth Circuit, under 5th Circuit law.
    […]
    There’s a significant lurking issue […] I’m a lawyer, but if I don’t represent you, then I can’t just go and file a habeas petition on your behalf because I think you’d want me to. I think this issue is solvable using something called a next-friend petition but I confess that next-friend practice isn’t in my habeas wheelhouse.

    Anyhow, the stakes of who decides these cases—a federal judge in Philly, Boston, NYC, etc, or one in Louisiana or Texas or wherever ICE chooses to put you—matters a LOT to your odds of winning.

  272. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Oh, sorry. I botched #271. The SCOTUS ruling was about the hundreds of Venezuelans and others. SCOTUS stayed the Abrego Garcia return while they mull it over.

    Steve Vladeck (Law professor):

    Acting by himself, Chief Justice Roberts has issued an “administrative” stay in Abrego Garcia, temporarily pausing Judge Xinis’s order (which had required the U.S. to return Abrego Garcia by this evening). In a nutshell, it’s a temp pause to buy the full Court more time to rule on the dispute.

    FWIW, I think we’ll get a ruling quickly (best guess, by Wednesday). And I think the government is going to lose (when you’ve lost even Judge Wilkinson…).

    Now, at least, the administrative stay means that the Court can rule against Trump and leave enough time to effectuate Abrego Garcia’s return.

    Max Kennerly (Trial lawyer):

    Administrative stays are common, but context matters: Roberts issued this to prevent the District Court from finding the government in contempt when it inevitably comes out that the Trump admin has made no effort to comply with the order that Garcia be returned to the U.S. by midnight.

  273. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    More commentary on the Venezuelans’ AEA SCOTUS ruling.

    ‪Sean Marotta (Apellate lawyer):

    I assume that representing AEA detainees in habeas counts towards the $100 million in pro bono under the “Ensuring fairness in our Justice System” category?

    Anna Bower (Lawfare):

    The order says people have to have notice and opportunity to file, but guess what. In this very case, the government argued that people had that, when they clearly didn’t! And the government’s position is that once you’re disappeared you’re disappeared, no takesies backsies!

  274. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Rando:

    One fuckin dude […] lied that Trump was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs and literally it sent the entire US market into a dead cat bounce for half an hour and the only thing I can conclude is that stock traders are idiots, by and large.

    Max Kennerly:

    White House said it was “fake news.” Massive swing up followed by massive swing down. Congrats to whoever pulled off that pump-and-dump. Shame we don’t have a functional SEC or legitimate US Attorneys anymore.

    Kevin Beaumont:

    On way the US stock market suddenly went green earlier and then crashed again. (prepare to lol) [Screenshots]
    [“Hammer Capital” asserts a pause is coming on Twitter. An NBC reporter asks where they heard that, seemingly the first to say so. Hammer names Fox, CNBC, Reuters. Rando says, “This was after your post.”]

     
    NBC – How an errant headline about a tariffs ‘pause’ briefly sent stocks soaring

    it soon became clear that no one could trace the origins of the alleged news. Hassett appeared earlier Monday on Fox News but did not mention a 90-day pause—though he was asked about one. The White House later said on X that the claim was false
    […]
    A search of X shows that the first post mentioning Hassett and the pause came at 10:11 a.m. [Hammer Capital] @yourfavorito, a finance-focused account with relatively few followers […] [They] told NBC News their post was a reaction to seeing the headline on CNBC and Reuters, and pointed to a Reuters headline posted at 10:20 a.m., nine minutes after their own post. […] The person behind the account said publicly that they had traded on the market’s swing. However, NBC News could not confirm that the account was the originator of the headline.

    The person behind the account later posted that “trading desks started sending out this headline at 10:09” and that they were reacting to it.

    Anna Bower asked the account, “What headline, though? Which news organization did trading desks source the headline from?” 7 hours ago but got no answer.

    Rando: “At this rate MAGA will only be able to afford to rent the libs.”

  275. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Follow-up to 190, 200.

    The Handbasket – Third grader & family abducted by ICE will return home

    all four family members are in the process of being released
    […]
    locals gathered to march through town—and specifically by Honan’s house—to raise hell about the heinous injustice. […] The people of Sackets Harbor—and especially the school administrators and teachers—should serve as an example for us all that resistance can work. […] And we can rest a little easier knowing the third grader will finally get to see the welcome home banner hung by classmates with love.

  276. StevoR says

    This Majority Report video titled ‘Israel Enters Final Solution Phase In Gaza’ – an interview with Omar Baddar (half an hour long) actually spends at least half its time discussing the prospects for war with Iran. I hope it doesn’t happen and know it will be catastrophic but I fear that is quite possibly happeneing soon because such a war on Iran would give Trump both a distraction and a scapegoat for all the economic harm his tariffs have caused and enable him to whip up “patriotism” ( spits) in his favour and further stifle and crack down on dissent at home.

    Again, hope I’m wrong and this does NOT happen but reckon this is.something to be aware of and prepare for as a possibility.

    1930’s speed run, Depression, Fascism and War.

  277. StevoR says

    Major volcanic eruption in the Philippines :

    A volcano in the central Philippines has erupted, sending a plume of ash 4,000 metres into the sky and prompting calls for local school cancellations. Kanlaon Volcano, one of 24 active volcanoes in the South-East Asian nation, erupted on Tuesday morning, local time. It last erupted in December, prompting the evacuation of surrounding villages. The area around the volcano on the island of Negros was still under evacuation orders when Tuesday’s eruption occurred. “An explosive eruption is currently occurring at the summit vent of Kanlaon Volcano that began at 5:51 am today,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement.

    Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-08/kanlaon-volcano-erupts-in-philippines/105150562

  278. StevoR says

    Not an economist here and that’s an area that’s never really made much sense to me so perhaps a silly question but is there any actual reason why the world needs stock markets at all?

    Could it be that we’d all be better off if stock markets were just abolished and we simply traded and imported and had our economies without them?

  279. StevoR says

    ^ imported and exported and just sold stuff and bought stuff without teh whole wrid guage of rich peoples feelings that seems to be the stock markets..

  282. John Morales says

    Oh, right. The bubbly freebie AI to the rescue!

    Me: “I have just read “the best explanation of stock markets I recall is in ben Elton’s Stark novel”; summarise in one paragraph and succinctly what that is, within your restrictions regarding copyright”

    AI: “In Stark, Ben Elton satirically explains stock markets through a metaphor about pigs. Investors are like pigs crowding a food trough, driven by greed and fear. When the pigs see others eating, they rush in, afraid they’ll miss out. If one pig panics and runs away, the rest follow, fearing something is wrong. This clever analogy captures the emotional and herd-driven nature of market behavior. Elton uses humor and sharp observation to highlight the irrational forces at play.”

    I myself have not read it — care to evaluate how how well it did, StevoR?

  283. StevoR says

    A protester has confronted the (Australian – ed) Prime Minister right as the press conference is wrapping up, accusing him of failing to take action on the climate crisis despite claiming to care about young people. “Since getting elected, your government has approved 33 new coal and gas projects,” she yells. “You are condemning young people like me to a lifetime of climate disasters — of course we have poor mental health issues! When will you listen to young people? When will your govenrment stop approving new coal and gas projects?”

    Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-08/federal-election-2025-live-updates-albanese-dutton-campaign/105148566

    That’s a bloody good question and good on her.

  284. StevoR says

    @282 . John Morales : Not well at all. There was so much more to it than just that metaphor.

    I’m also well aware of being on the internet too. Sometimes Google like AI is inadequate & doesn’;t suffice. Never read anything and thought, “Huh that still doesn’t really make sense to me?”

  285. StevoR says

    Good Aussie ABC news analysis piece here I reckon :

    But the train has left the station — not just because of the tariffs unveiled on April 2, but because Donald Trump has smashed the global system of alliances and co-operation, led by the United States, that has been in operation since the Bretton Woods Conference of July 1944.

    The US government is now having a kind of break with reality.

    The Trumpists are not even right-wing or conservative in the normal sense, just tribal, recklessly macho and inept.

    Plus :

    The great American cultural and economic hegemony that has lasted for more than 80 years is coming to an end.

    America’s global economic leadership was formalised in 1944, when 730 delegates from 44 allied nations met at the Mount Washington Hotel, in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, and agreed to base the global trading system on the US dollar, which would in turn be pegged to gold.

    In addition to :

    American leadership promoted the spread of free trade, which in turn produced seven decades of rising prosperity in the US and the world, bringing billions out of poverty.

    But Trump is stuck in the idea that trade, and everything else, is a zero-sum game, that for every winner there is a loser and there is no such thing as a win-win, which is how most people approach a negotiation.

    The Soviet Union took 10 years to end, starting with the strike at the Gdansk shipyard in 1980 and the rise of Solidarity, the trade union, and its leader Lech Walesa, and then suddenly with the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. The first election of Trump in 2016 could be seen as the Gdansk shipyard strike. In that analogy, “Liberation Day”, April 2, 2025, was the fall of the Berlin Wall.

    Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-07/tariffs-trump-world-will-move-on/105143574

  286. John Morales says

    I did ask for one paragraph, not an essay. :)

    But I do appreciate the feedback.
    You find it quite incomplete, got it.

  287. JM says

    @278 StevoR: It’s something that is probably impossible to make illegal without going to a full communism and putting all large industry in the hands of the state. There are simply too many advantages both for investors and for companies to be able to sell part of ownership in the company. Backing for loans and a way to have some say in a companies operations are just too basic of ideas. If you give companies any flexibility they will just find another way to implement partial ownership and then setup a market for buying and selling those shares.
    A better solution would be to remove the incentives for speculative short term investment and instead favor long term investment.

  288. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: StevoR @278:

    any actual reason why the world needs stock markets at all?

    I imagine it’s a slippery slope from contracts, debt, lending, and physical commodity trading. People will buy/trade debts hoping they’ll pay off. They’ll start betting for/against outcomes, then they’ll be betting on those gambles, etc.

    That gets bonds (loans awaiting repayment, bundled as ‘securities’ for resale). Stocks are securities that pay based on an entity’s profits, based in an arrangement of shared ownership.

    I posted back in December about financial shenanigans in the ancient Near East. I didn’t get to stock exchanges though.

    Wikipedia – Dutch East India Company

    one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 […] Shares in the company could be purchased by any citizen of the Dutch Republic and subsequently bought and sold in open-air secondary markets (one of which became the Amsterdam Stock Exchange). The company possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.

    Seems like there ought to have been some incremental innovations prior to that quasi-government.

    From cursory searching. I haven’t yet found a decent historian source on the origin of stock exchanges.

  289. whheydt says

    Re: JM @ #287…
    It used to be that, in order to get reduced taxes on profit as a “long term capital gain”, the asset had to be held for at least 18 months. IIRC, that was reduced to 6 months. To reduce speculation, it ought go back to 18 months…or even longer.

    Re: CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain @ #288…
    Sometimes an asset is held to obtain profits (dividends). Other times, an asset is held in anticipation that asset itself will become more valuable over time. In many cases…it’s both.

  290. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Meta commentary on a Gaza story shared by birgerjohansson.

    Elia Ayoub – How the BBC, NPR, NYT and AP News covered Israel’s massacre of Palestinian medics on March 23rd

    This is not a matter of journalistic ethics. It’s a matter of editorial policy.
    […]
    The story: Israel killed rescue workers and medics in Gaza, and then dumped their bodies in a mass grave. Israel did do that. The evidence, as even those outlets state, is fairly straightforward. We have the video. The Israelis lied about what happened. The Palestinians and the United Nations told the truth.

    There is such a thing as the facts […] Outlets choose to state and explain them, or obfuscate them, but they always choose. […] With every headline […] we can ask […] is there a reason for adding words that can add doubt

    /I modified the title here, splicing details from the lede: outlet names and the date.
    All those outlets did it badly. Channel 4 did okay.

  291. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    ^ Not a criticism of birgerjohansson, who had shared a Guardian article, an outlet not covered. Elia Ayoub actually praised its authors, for another article on the subject and recommended that as a reference.

  293. birgerjohansson says

    StevoR @ 277
    At least the volcano is plugged into the zeigeist. Next up, watch the San Andreas fault.

  304. rorschach says

    Audley @1,
    “How many years has this thing been going, PZ? Dang.”

    2009 iirc ;)

  306. says

    Sky Captain @272 (and related posts nearby), the temporary pause that the Supreme Court (John Roberts specifically) set up bothers me. Even a brief extension of a stay in a jail that notorious could increase Abrego Garcia’s risk of injury or death. Thank you for keeping us up to date on the latest court decisions.

    In other news: In 2018, [Trump] confused many of his own aides with claims about “the bowling ball test” and auto imports. In 2025, the odd story is back

    As Donald Trump’s tariff policies rocked global markets and raise concerns about a possible recession, the president spoke to reporters Monday about his motivations — and why he believes his radical tactics are justified. [video at the link]

    [I]t’s not only tariffs, it’s non-monetary tariffs,” the Republican said in the Oval Office. “It’s tariffs where they put things on that make it impossible for you to sell a car. It’s not a money thing. They make it so difficult, the standards and the tests. They drop a bowling ball on the top of your car from 20 feet up in the air, and if there’s a little dent, they say, ‘No, I’m sorry, your car doesn’t qualify.

    [What?]

    If that sounds at all familiar, there’s a good reason for that.

    Almost exactly seven years ago, Trump appeared at a fundraiser and described gimmicks that, according to the president, Japan used to deny U.S. auto companies access to its consumers.

    “It’s called ‘the bowling ball test,’” the president said. “Do you know what that is? That’s where they take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and they drop it on the hood of the car. And if the hood dents, then the car doesn’t qualify. Well, guess what, the roof dented a little bit, and they said, ‘Nope, this car doesn’t qualify.’ It’s horrible, the way we’re treated. It’s horrible.”

    Soon after, when reporters asked the White House what in the world he was talking about, then-press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “Obviously, he’s joking.”

    Seven years later, it’s obvious he wasn’t joking. In fact, a White House official told The Washington Post at the time that Trump “frequently” mentioned the bowling ball test in meetings, for reasons that no one understood.

    In 2018, the Post’s Philip Bump explored a variety of possible explanations, including referencing a Nissan television ad (the president does love watching TV) in which bowling balls hit a car. Did Trump see the commercial and get confused? Your guess is as good as mine.

    To be sure, regulatory barriers are a real issue, including in the automotive industry, and Japan really did put some barriers in place for auto imports. As the late, great Kevin Drum explained several years ago, the Obama administration managed to persuade Japan to make it easier for American auto manufacturers to reach the Japanese market as part of negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

    Almost immediately after taking office, Trump killed the TPP — and soon after started talking up a bowling ball test that has never existed. The story has not improved with age.

    Trump is a confused, possibly demented old man, who can’t tell the difference between an advertisement he saw on TV and Japan’s trade policies.

    No matter how deep journalists dig to come up with some sort of explanation for Trump’s blather, they’ll never get a satisfactory/rational explanation because there isn’t one. When he is not being motivated by narcissism and revenge, Trump seems to be motivated by whatever nonsense his damaged mind has been playing on a loop for years … like bowling balls being dropped on cars.

    And now our trade policies are based on the nonsense sludge in Trump’s brain. Fuck.

  307. says

    Bits and pieces of news, as summarized by Steve Benen (Benen writes for The Maddow Blog]:

    * NBC News reported that the North Carolina Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling “that would have required that more than 65,000 votes cast in the disputed 2024 state Supreme Court race be recounted and verified.” [I hope that ruling sticks!]

    * As Democratic officials start to feel some optimism about the 2026 midterm elections, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced this week that it’s targeting 35 Republican-held House seats. The party will need a net gain of three seats to take back the majority in the chamber. [summarized from NBC News]

    * Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, a longtime Republican donor, condemned the White House’s trade tariffs in an interview this week. “I don’t understand the goddamn formula,” Langone told The Financial Times. [summarized from CNBC]

    * In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott finally scheduled a congressional special election to fill the vacancy left by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s death. That said, voters in the Houston-area district won’t get to choose a new representatives until November, leaving them without a voice in Congress for the next six months. [summarized from the Texas Tribune]

    * While state attorneys general races tend not to generate a lot of national attention, The New York Times reported that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s group will spend $10 million to help elect Democratic attorneys general this year and in 2026. This first test will be this fall in Virginia, where a Republican incumbent, Jason Miyares, is seeking a second term. [summarized from New York Times]

  308. rorschach says

    Lynna @307,
    “As Democratic officials start to feel some optimism about the 2026 midterm elections”

    I think it’s cute that there are still people who think there will be midterm elections in the US. Obviously they have understood nothing of what’s going on here.

  309. says

    Trump fires U.S. admiral at NATO as part of an intensifying military purge

    […] a month before Election Day, Trump said during an interview, “The military is bad. We have generals that do such a bad job.” In the same interview, Trump went on to complain that U.S. military leaders “never get fired.”

    Evidently, he meant it. The Associated Press reported:

    U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the only woman on NATO’s military committee, was fired over the weekend by the Trump administration, U.S. officials said Monday. Although no reason was given, officials said it was apparently tied to comments she has made that supported diversity in the force.

    The AP’s account noted that Chatfield was notified of her ouster by Adm. Christopher Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told the admiral that the Trump administration wanted to “go in a different direction.”

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly made the decision […]

    While there’s ample precedent for military leaders being fired for cause, there’s no indication that Chatfield, a decorated helicopter pilot and the first woman to lead the Naval War College, did anything wrong or was falling short in her duties in any way.

    So why was she removed from her post? According to The Washington Post, Chatfield had been targeted by a conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation, which lobbied Hegseth for her removal, pointing to a 2015 speech in which Chatfield said that “our diversity is our strength.”

    […] Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, [said], “Trump’s relentless attacks on our alliances and his careless dismissal of decorated military officials make us less safe and weaken our position across the world.”

    […] the admiral’s ouster comes just days after Trump also removed Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, who was both the head of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency. Officials didn’t elaborate as to why Haugh had to go, but the decision followed a private meeting between Trump and a fringe conspiracy theorist [Lara Loomer] who had some recommendations about the administration’s national security team.

    Trump has also ousted Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. James Slife, former vice chief of staff of the Air Force; Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, the Army’s top military lawyer; and Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer, the Air Force’s top military lawyer.

    Of particular interest, however, is the president’s apparent eagerness to target women in key military leadership positions. In fact, on the first day of the Republican’s second term, he fired Adm. Linda Fagan, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, evicting her from her home with three hours of notice. The fact that Fagan was a four-star admiral and the first woman to lead a branch of the military apparently meant very little to the president who ousted her.

    The New York Times noted, meanwhile, that the same list also includes Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short, and now, Chatfield. […]

  310. says

    DOGE Poised to Nix WMD Office at DHS, by Josh Marshall

    DOGE is on the verge of shuttering the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office at the Department of Homeland Security. This is the office charged with preventing chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons inside the United States. This is through a mix of intelligence, technology, preparedness, liaising with state and local policy, etc. (There’s more details on it here.) It’s an office with just over 250 federal employees and about twice that number of contractors.

    As much as anything, the office seems like a target of an opportunity. The office was created in 2018 by combining two existing offices. It needed to be reauthorized in 2023. But it got held up with some small-bore parliamentary maneuvers by Sen. Rand Paul. It’s still there with its appropriated funds. But it didn’t have the same congressional authorization. The upshot of that is that if you’re looking for things to shut down, that makes it legally simpler to do. So even in the context of basically everything DOGE does being illegal it’s an easier lift.

    I’m told the DOGErs’ decision could come imminently.

  311. says

    New York told Trump to f-ck off—and won

    New York City’s congestion pricing will remain in place until at least the fall, after the Trump administration backed off an arbitrary deadline to force the city to cease the program, according to a Monday court filing.

    Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy demanded in February that New York end the program—which incentivizes people to use public transportation over cars by placing a toll on vehicle traffic, and then uses that toll revenue to fund the transit system.

    And […] Trump took a preemptive victory lap, declaring himself “king” for trying to pull approval for the program. [LOL]

    “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” the White House wrote in a post on X, along with a photo of Trump in a crown.

    But New York refused to end congestion pricing, saying the federal government could not back out of the contract the previous administration had made to allow the program to go into effect.

    And New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to fight the Trump administration in court to keep congestion pricing in place, saying the program is working.

    “Since congestion pricing took effect over two months ago, traffic is down and business is up—and that’s the kind of progress we’re going to keep delivering for New Yorkers,” Hochul said in a March 21 news release. The release also said that traffic is down 11%, bridge crossings are 30% faster, honking complaints were down 70%, and transit ridership is up. “Every day, more New Yorkers are seeing and hearing the benefits for our commutes, quality of life and economy—and we’re not going back.”

    New York did not even back down when Duffy threatened in March to pull billions in federal funding from the state if they did not cease congestion pricing—which polling shows is growing more popular among New Yorkers as the positive effects of the program are realized.

    […] the fight over congestion pricing is far from over. The courts—which have been stacked to benefit Republicans—could side with the Trump administration and end congestion pricing. Trump could make good on his threats to pull federal funding from the state—which would bring on more legal challenges and potential pain for New Yorkers.

    But in the meantime, New York is still running the program that is benefiting residents. And the state refused to back down to a wannabe dictator.

    That’s a win.

  313. says

    […] Trump has been tearing down the Federal Emergency Management Agency bit by bit since stepping back into office. And while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told disaster survivors that she wants to reinforce the program, the Trump administration’s actions say otherwise.

    In February, Noem toured a disaster zone in North Carolina—which is still recovering from Hurricane Helene that hit in September 2024—and promised survivors that she, alongside FEMA, would help rebuild and speed up the aid process for future disasters.

    “FEMA can often be slow and confusing and a lot of paperwork. I heard that over and over and over again today. And we’re going to fix that. I’ll promise you one thing. President Trump has committed, and I’m committed with him to bringing FEMA into the 21st century,” she said.

    But according to Smoky Mountain News, a county in North Carolina with about $15 million in Hurricane Helene damages has yet to receive a cent from FEMA.

    […] Noem, like Trump, has a long history of targeting FEMA.

    While Noem made elaborate promises to unhoused people trying to rebuild their lives, she was telling her colleagues behind the scenes that her plans were to “eliminate” FEMA altogether.

    During a private meeting on March 25, Noem said that she wants to eliminate FEMA’s role in long-term rebuilding efforts and halt multibillion-dollar grants, putting the power into states’ hands. But experts say that states simply do not have the level of preparedness to handle such disasters.

    On the bright side, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ordered the Trump administration last week to begin paying out frozen FEMA grants to 22 Democratic states and Washington D.C. [Good news.]

    Millions of dollars in disaster relief was withheld from these Democratic areas, which Trump made clear was his goal all along.

    But with red states like North Carolina still awaiting their FEMA funding, it’s clear that Trump and Noem’s attacks against the organization are beneficial to no one.

    Link

  314. says

    Chauncey Alcorn of Capital B News looks at evidence that DOGE layoffs may be more targeted than they seem.

    An internal memo provided to Capital B Atlanta by a CDC employee appears to show a list of agency departments and divisions that were downsized on Tuesday. In addition to divisions related to areas of research in which Black people are overrepresented, the memo also lists research divisions primarily affecting women and other minority groups.

    “They went in there and dismantled anything that would help any marginalized community,” CDC information technology specialist Irismar “Reese” Williams said on Tuesday, after receiving a layoff notice. “Make no mistake: This is a direct attack.” […]

    Civil rights leaders have been sounding the alarm about potential bias in DOGE downsizing since the agency that Trump tasked with reducing federal government waste began laying off workers last month.

  315. birgerjohansson says

    “Trump Not Happy With Euro Defence Project”
    .https://youtube.com/watch?v=sLogrjrJcTE

    Oops! Now that Europe needs more military hardware, they obviously order it from European defence companies to keep the money and jobs at home. As Europe ramps up the arms production this means more competition for US companies across the world market. And if those companies want to deliver to the new European defence, they will probably need to set up shop in Europe.

  316. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Another independent institution falls to DOGE.

    NYT – Workers forced to leave foreign policy center as trump presses shutdown

    About 130 employees of the Wilson Center were told they were being put on leave, just four days after workers for Elon Musk’s team entered the center. […] The center’s more than 50 fellows were expected to be paid until the end of their program, but those who are foreign citizens expect to have their visas canceled. Two of the fellows are at the center through a program for scholars whose work endangers them in their home countries

    Ususal M.O.: force out the leadership, halt donor funding, nix email, send workers home, admin leave, fire all but a skeleton crew to pretend it’s still functioning per statute. In this case, the building is required to be a memorial to Woodrow Wilson. It had been a foreign policy think tank, and it still holds extensive archives of Wilson’s presidency and the Cold War era for research.

  317. birgerjohansson says

    With the latest supreme court decision, can we please start duscussing increasing the size of the SCOTUS once the Dems are back in power?

  318. says

    Christian “TheoBros” Are Building a Tech Utopia in Appalachia

    A couple of years ago, Andrew Isker, a pastor and father of six, made a big decision. He would move his family away from Minnesota, where six generations of his ancestors had lived before him, to a rural community in Tennessee. Leaving his home state wasn’t easy, he told Tucker Carlson on Carlson’s YouTube show in March. But he had no choice; the progressive excesses of Governor Tim Walz simply had become too much to bear. Isker was especially concerned about his autistic son, who had attended a program at a local public school. “They could be putting him in a dress and calling him a girl name, and I would have no idea,” said Isker, echoing an unfounded claim that President Trump made during a September debate with Kamala Harris. “And then when I find out and I oppose it, boom. [Child Protective Services] comes, takes him out of our custody, and he’s gone forever.”

    So Isker decided to move to rural Appalachia—choosing that particular location to help launch a new community near the small town of Gainesboro, Tennessee, in the central northern part of the state. […]

    The community that Isker is helping to build in Tennessee is part of the Highland Rim Project, an initiative from a Christian venture capital firm called New Founding. The company seeks to build neighborhoods with Christian values in rural America: “Thick communities that are conducive to a natural, human and uniquely American way of life,” places where “your neighbors are people who seek a self-determinative lifestyle and a return to a more natural human way of living for themselves and their families.”

    But the Highland Rim Project is not just another old-fashioned utopian fantasy. Rather, it is deliberately forward-looking, infused with Silicon Valley techno-libertarian values. The communities will be designed around “digital self-governance” including cryptocurrency and a culture “in which our patrimonial civic rights, chiefly those of property, free political speech and civilian armament, can be maintained and perpetuated.”

    […] There’s a name for the rough concept that Isker describes: the “Network State,” an ascendant and buzzy tech movement where internet groups are beginning to explore what it might be like to start their own new countries. At first, these new countries would appear online, and eventually in actual physical locations. Simply put, the Highland Rim Project is the Christian nationalist take on that idea. As New Founding CEO Nate Fischer put it last year on X, “Nation states are not the principal form of government today. I see no reason Christian nations or peoples couldn’t organize network states.”

    […] The concept is the brainchild of investor and entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan, a close friend of PayPal titan Peter Thiel, and a former partner at Andreessen-Horowitz, the firm run by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.

    […] In 2022, Srinivasan turned his seminal article into a bestseller, The Network State: How to Start a New Country. Srinivasan’s book is still in the top 20 lists in both the political philosophy and general technology and reference sections on Amazon—and in the three years since its publication, the ideas in it have gained a robust following. My former colleague Ali Breland wrote a 2023 investigation about Praxis, a “cryptocity” concept that drew tens of millions of dollars in investment from Thiel and other Silicon Valley luminaries—though the physical city has yet to materialize. There is also Próspera, a deregulated economic zone in Roatán, Honduras, and a somewhat different model, California Forever, an ongoing effort by a group of tech billionaires to turn part of California wine country into a “tech colony.”

    […] While Abbotoy didn’t provide details on plans to incorporate cryptocurrency into the communities, the people who have bought property so far, “are high agency and prioritize sovereignty in their personal lives, including digital and financial sovereignty,” he said. “So naturally many of them love crypto. We encourage crypto adoption and use, and eagerly welcome entrepreneurs operating in this space.”

    […] The people who already live in the communities that New Founding is targeting already have their own vision for local life, and many of them are not thrilled about the idea of wealthy Christian nationalists moving in and taking over.

    […] The New Founding staffers hobnob with Vice President JD Vance. Andreessen—the venture capitalist and Srinivasan’s friend—has invested in New Founding. New Founding’s Nate Fischer has invested in the startup societies venture firm Pronomos Capital, Pronomos head Patri Friedman recently told me. Through the online magazine American Reformer, which Abbotoy and Fischer cofounded, New Founding has robust connections to the world of the TheoBros, a group of mostly millennial, ultra-conservative men, many of whom proudly call themselves Christian nationalists, believe women shouldn’t be allowed to vote, and idolize authoritarian leaders like Francisco Franco. [All the bad ideas in one place. At least it is not Idaho this time.]

    […] fans of the Network State are trying to convince the Trump administration to scale up their vision—and there are signs that the president is listening. In 2023, during the leadup to his presidential campaign, Donald Trump proposed building “freedom cities,” which would convert federal land in rural areas into zones with laws specifically designed to attract industry and manufacturing in specific sectors. Earlier this year, a group called the Frontier Foundation—one of whose founding members is New Founding’s Josh Abbotoy—drafted an open letter to Trump urging him to act on that idea. The group’s policy memo explains that the new cities “should be exempt from certain federal regulation under special oversight by the executive branch.” […]

    Last month, Wired also reported that the Freedom Cities Coalition had been meeting with the Trump administration. […]

    But from the perspective of the Highland Rim guys, what’s more important than the Washington lobbying is the sense the cultural and political winds are at their backs. “Now that Trump has bought us four years,” Isker posted on X the morning after election day last November, “it is the perfect time for you to begin building the restored America in rural Tennessee.”

    More at the link.

  319. says

    Farmers are seeing US Department of Agriculture subsidies suddenly frozen under Donald Trump, because the administration decided that smart farming practices that conserve soil and increase yields are secretly part of Joe Biden’s communist plot to fight global warming, so they have to go.

    Never mind that many of the subsidies support long-proven soil conservation techniques like reducing how much soil is tilled, planting cover crops that renew the soil, or measures to reduce erosion. Those have been supported by USDA grants for decades, well before Joe Biden came to office. Biden’s climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, boosted many existing grant programs because those sustainable growing methods also had climate benefits, so now entire categories of subsidies are frozen while the USDA decides whether they’re infected with wokeness and what TrumpWorld considers the false religion of climate.

    Mind you, the climate stuff is just a pretext anyway, because if it weren’t climate, the administration would still want to cancel grants and use the money for tax cuts for billionaires. Maybe Trumpers would cancel the grants as “DEI,” like they did when they slashed tree-planting initiatives.

    […] The subsidy freeze comes at an especially crappy time for farmers, since they’re also about to be hit by other countries’ retaliation against US producers in response to the Big Beautiful tariffs Trump announced last week. Decisions about what and how much to plant are a lot harder when farmers find out the subsidies they’d applied for and been granted are suddenly canceled. Contracts? Donald Trump doesn’t believe in those, never has.

    Most of the grant programs the administration has frozen — almost certainly unconstitutionally, since Congress established them — have been around for decades, because they support good agricultural practices. […] have significant benefits for reducing greenhouse emissions, like reducing the need for chemical fertilizers, many of which are derived from petrochemicals. […]

    The USDA oversees 20 conservation programs that are funded through the Farm Bill, the massive legislation covering farm and nutrition programs that’s negotiated every five years. Under the Biden administration these conservation and energy programs got a huge boost: $19.5 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s signature climate legislation.

    Estimates of the funding being withheld run from between $2 billion in an analysis by former USDA employees, to an agricultural economist’s estimate that it’s more like $12.5 billion, all told. Republicans in Congress are eager to redirect the funds, however much they are, to other, more earth-despoiling parts of the farm bill for next year.

    Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins claimed in February that some $20 million in frozen IRA funding would be released, eventually, but only after the USDA made absolutely certain that “programs are focused on supporting farmers and ranchers, not DEIA [diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility] programs or far-left climate programs.”

    Eventually, in March, the USDA said it would release funds from the

    Rural Energy for America Program, which gives grants for farmers to install energy-efficient projects, like solar panels. In order to receive the funds, recipients of the grants will have to revise their applications to ensure that they “remove harmful DEIA and far-left climate features,” the agency said.

    For some farmers, that may be as simple as removing keywords like “sustainable,” “climate smart,” or “carbon sequestration” that they had added to their applications to make them eligible for the IRA funding, even though what they’re actually doing on their land is no different. Only when the word “biodiversity” has been extirpated can the funds be released, it seems.

    That’s no guarantee of success, of course; as an earlier Washington Post story (archive link) on the USDA freeze noted, some grants were frozen even if the applications weren’t scented with patchouli and were for practices the USDA has incentivized for decades, like rotating the areas where cattle graze, to let soil recover. All it took in many cases was for the grants to have been funded by the IRA. One such $150,000 grant, which supported a rancher’s installation of fencing and water tanks, “was flagged for ‘full termination,’ […] because the ‘goal of this project is to combat global climate change.’”

    Eventually — and probably only after lawsuits brought by farmers seeking to have their broken contracts honored — some of the funds may be restored. Even without them, plenty of farmers will continue using best practices because they increase yields and keep their land healthier. But the incentives definitely help, since only about 40 percent of ranchers rotate the areas where their cattle graze to preserve the soil. One nonprofit, the Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance, lost its grant to teach such sustainable practices to farmers around the state. While the grant program is being reviewed, the group’s leader, Carolyn Jones, told the Post she and her staff would continue the education efforts without the funding, because it’s needed, hoping that at some point the funds are restored. […]

    On the other hand, if America keeps blowing money on preventing farmland from being ruined by overuse, where will we get our next John Steinbeck, did you ever think of that?

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/farmers-might-be-able-to-get-their

  321. says

    The Supreme Court on Tuesday halted a federal judge’s ruling requiring several federal agencies to reinstate around 16,000 workers the Trump administration had sought to fire.

    The decision to grant the administration’s request means the federal government doesn’t have to take steps to bring back some workers who were laid off while litigation moves forward before a federal judge in California.

    Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, two of the court’s liberal justices, noted they dissented from the unsigned decision.

    The order indicated that the some nonprofit groups that sued may not have legal standing to press their claims.

    “Despite this setback, our coalition remains unwavering in fighting for these workers who were wronged by the administration, and in protecting the freedoms of the American people,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement.

    Further complicating matters, a judge in Maryland issued a similar ruling that applies to the same agencies at issue in the California case as well as others. That decision, which requires affected employees in 19 states and the District of Columbia to be kept on paid administrative leave while litigation continues, remains in place.

    The affected agencies in the California case are the departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Treasury.

    […] California-based U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that fired probationary employees should be reinstated because the process used was legally flawed.

    The Trump administration argued Alsup did not have the authority to reinstate the workers and made the problem worse by micromanaging the process. Lawyers also argued that the various labor unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, and other groups that sued, such as the Main Street Alliance and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, did not have a direct stake in the firings.

    The Supreme Court decision only addressed the claims made by the nonprofit groups, as those were what Alsup’s ruling was based on. The union claims could yet lead to further court action. […]

    Link

    Related video at the link.

  322. says

    WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In the latest illustration of the tensions roiling the White House, on Tuesday JD Vance reportedly “blew his stack” when he learned that newly instituted tariffs had sent the price of his favorite eyeliner brand soaring.

    According to sources, Vance demanded a meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick upon discovering that the price of his go-to beauty product, Shanghai Smokeshow, had quadrupled.

    The meeting, however, did not achieve its desired result, as a tearful Vance emerged from it with black streaks staining his cheeks.

    In a further sign of trouble, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has threatened to resign over the sky-high tariffs slapped on Botox and hair extensions.

    Link

    Closeup photo of Vance’s eyes, with the eyeliner, is available at the link.

  323. says

    Trump To Spend Remaining Federal Budget On ICE Concentration Camps

    “At $45 billion, it’s more than double the amount USAID ever spent in any year.”

    […] after Elon Musk and his Artless DOGErs have gone on multiple unconstitutional firing sprees and illegal deletions of federal contracts, the Trump administration finally found something it wants to increase spending on: concentration camps to aid mass deportation!

    OK, and military parades, too, but the piddling $100 million Donald wants to blow on wrecking DC’s streets is a pittance compared to the $45 billion the administration plans to spend on ramping up private prisons and concentration camps to hold all the people it wants to deport, whether they be undocumented immigrants, legal visitors, students, and residents whose visas or green cards have been arbitrarily revoked, or US citizens who “accidentally” get scooped up too […]

    The New York Times reports (gift link) that the new spending — which will need to be passed by Congress, not that Republicans are likely to be stingy about giving mass deportation all the money they can — was revealed in a Homeland Security request for proposals from private prison contractors last week. The big barrel of cash would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to order “new detention facilities, transportation, security guards, medical support and other administrative services worth as much as $45 billion over the next two years.”

    The new spending would more than sextuple — and not in a fun way — the annual amount that ICE spent on all its detention operations in fiscal 2024, which was a measly $3.4 billion.

    […] Not only would the Defense Department be encouraged to get in on the prison-camp game, the process for submitting bids and building new private prisons and camps would be streamlined, with a lot less oversight, […] because when money changes hands more easily, things happen more quickly (including corruption […]

    […] With lower standards and less oversight, shittier facilities and fewer protections for prisoner safety are already built into the plan […] Homan already said he’d be fine with lower standards and fewer inspections, because the goal is big numbers, not treating people we want to deport as if they were human beings. As Great Leader says, they’re animals. […]

    Facilities […] can operate under the less rigorous standards the agency uses for contracts with local jails and prisons. These facilities typically do not include comprehensive medical care, like access to mental health services, nor do they offer access to information about immigrants’ legal rights. […]

    Even under existing standards, government inspections for years have found evidence of negligence at private detention facilities, including lack of access to medical care and unsanitary conditions, and problems that may have led to deaths of detainees.

    […] private prison companies Like CoreCivic and Geo Group are bullish on the new opportunities, and they aren’t even bothered that the call for proposals had a rushed due date for bids of Monday, April 7, just three business days after the contracts were announced. The private prison contractors were already licking their chops in anticipation of the deals […]

    And as long as somebody stands to make a few billion off cruelty, then that’s the American Way, isn’t it?

    Maybe we can at least hope that DOGE will come along and decide to cut every penny of the spending for concentration camps […]

  324. says

    The Atlantic:

    Interior Secretary Doug Burgum likes chocolate-chip cookies — preferably freshly baked and still warm. This peculiar fact became the talk of the Department of the Interior in recent weeks after his chief of staff, JoDee Hanson, made an unusual request of the political appointees in his office: Learn to regularly bake cookies for Burgum and his guests, using the industrial ovens at the department headquarters.

    Commentary:

    […] The Atlantic’s report […] added that the Cabinet secretary and his team have also “repeatedly made unusual demands,” including instructing political appointees to act as servers for a multi-course meal, dispatching a U.S. Park Police helicopter for his personal transportation and at one point even telling an appointee to remake cookies that failed to meet Burgum’s standards.

    […] it’s worth pausing to appreciate the familiarity of the circumstances.

    In Trump’s first term, much of his Cabinet ran into serious controversies, and in four instances, Cabinet members were even referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.

    […] Trump’s first interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, whose tenure was almost cartoonishly provocative: The Montana Republican came under at least 15 different investigations before resigning under a cloud of controversy. […]

    In one especially memorable story, Zinke, before Montana voters re-elected him to Congress, was even accused of misusing public resources on, of all things, helicopter rides. […]

    Link

  325. says

    Watch Jon Stewart’s scathing take on Trump’s torturous tariff debacle

    “Our economy is in the midst of a beautiful metamorphosis, turning from a simple caterpillar … into a dead caterpillar,” Stewart said.

    Crashing global markets left most people wondering what the wannabe autocrat in the Oval Office could do to assuage the growing alarm felt by most Americans. Instead, Stewart explained, we got a lazy social media attack from Trump, who smashed that all-caps button and wrote that he was going to create “a new party based on weak and stupid people” he called “PANICAN.”

    “How about ‘HYSTERICRATS?’ ‘REPUSSICANS?’ How about ‘CRYINTOLOGISTS?’” Stewart joked. “Did the overseas factory you had been sourcing your nicknames from get shut down during the tariff?” [Video at the link]

    Stewart then played a montage of right-wing media personalities pretending there is no economic crisis at all, acting as if it’s no big deal that the stock market ticker they’re sharing the screen with is a burning shade of red.

    “[…] this time, there’s no controversy over how it all started. There’s no wet market. You, Trump, released the contagion. […]”

  326. says

    […] Russia has a new condition for peace — they want the U.S. to withdraw troops from Eastern Europe. Naturally, that means Trump is “considering” it.

    🇺🇲🇵🇱 The U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command announced on April 8 that American personnel and equipment will be relocated from Poland’s Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport, a key logistics hub for delivering military aid to #Ukraine
    Kyiv Independent link. See also: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:l3cpjedkirdkpvedyxsj2afv/post/3lmctshdzak22

    In Poland— panic after the announcement of the withdrawal of US troops from the Ukrainian border — EADaily, April 8th, 2025 — Politics, Russia

    Main link

  328. JM says

    @327 Lynna, OM: It’s been known that Russia has been hiring mercenaries from the start. Mostly not for front line combat, most seem to have spent their time digging trenches. These may be the first provably Chinese caught on the front line. Possibly they are the first Ukraine wanted to raise the issue on because it also makes Russia look bad in ongoing negotiations.

  329. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    MediaMatters – Another key pillar of the MAGA defense for Signalgate is crumbling

    Any tactical victory achieved during the initial March 15 attack has not fulfilled the intended U.S. goal of curbing Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a major international trade route.
    […]
    Fox News propagandists […] touted the effectiveness of the strike on the Houthis […] nearly a month after the first bombs fell, U.S. forces are still embroiled in an open-ended air war in Yemen that has reportedly cost nearly $1 billion, with no conclusion in sight.
    […]
    “The Houthis have been bombed tens of thousands of times over the past decade and remain undeterred,” Yemen expert Elisabeth Kendall told CNN. “So one is left thinking that the bombing is largely performative: let’s show the world—we’ll do it because we can.”

  330. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    TPM – DOGE to shutter DOJ tax division

    Since the Tax Division is a statutory creation, it can’t literally be shuttered. As DOGE has done at numerous other offices and agencies, the entity is kept notionally alive in a zombie state of suspended animation: a few employees, a desk lamp and a couple workstations. […] likely to be announced next week, on April 14th.

    Brian Galle (Law professor):

    This is a travesty, obviously. DOJ-Tax doesn’t just prosecute offenses; they also litigate almost all tax collection actions. Even if you report your tax accurately, now you also can just not pay, and there won’t be anyone to chase you.

  331. JM says

    The Hill: Trump makes history by pardoning a corporation

    In what may be a first in American history, President Trump just expanded the presidential pardon power to include corporations.

    On Friday, Trump issued full and unconditional pardons to four individuals and a related cryptocurrency exchange, BitMEX.

    The company in question was used for large scale money laundering. The exact text of the pardon isn’t public yet but doesn’t really matter. The company will go back to money laundering with more care to cover it up. I do have to give Trump credit for this one though, it’s a creative abuse of power.

  332. says

    JM @331, Trump is certainly encouraging people/corporations to engage in criminal activity.

    JM @328, thanks for that additional information about the mercenaries.

  333. says

    The Hill:

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is terminating parole protections for people who entered the country through the CBP One app, revoking legal status for nearly a million migrants who came to the U.S. during the Biden administration. Roughly 985,000 people used the app to make appointments at a port of entry at the border, with those who entered often permitted to seek asylum and given temporary work authorization.

  334. says

    Reuters:

    U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is ending most, if not all, remaining U.S. aid for Afghanistan and Yemen, aid sources said on Monday, in what the U.N. World Food Program said could be “a death sentence” for millions.

  335. says

    NBC News:

    A U.S. District Court judge [rightwing doofus District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk] in Texas on Monday tossed a Biden-era policy to increase staffing in long-term care facilities that participate in Medicaid or Medicare programs.

  336. says

    New York Times:

    The State of Maine sued the Agriculture Department on Monday, arguing that the agency violated the law when it froze funding to Maine last week and that the freeze threatened school meal programs.

  337. says

    Washington Post:

    The federal agency in charge of trucking safety on America’s highways dramatically slowed the pace of enforcement actions after the Trump administration took office in January, according to safety data, agency records and interviews with people familiar with the changes.

  338. says

    NBC News:

    The National Park Service has reversed edits and restored content to its webpage about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in the wake of news reports and public backlash over the changes.

  339. Reginald Selkirk says

    @307

    Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, a longtime Republican donor, condemned the White House’s trade tariffs in an interview this week. “I don’t understand the goddamn formula,” Langone told The Financial Times. [summarized from CNBC]

    Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of leopards eating your face.

  341. says

    […] Scaramucci knows Trump better than most, and here is what he says to do about the tariffs:

    […]according to Anthony Scaramucci – who served as Trump’s White House communications director for just 10 days in 2017 – countries should not be talking to Trump right now.

    “He just wants you talking about him. He’s absolutely thrilled he’s got Wall Street upset, he’s got the banking community upset,” the former financier told Times Radio.

    “I wouldn’t be calling him,” Scaramucci said. “My advice to them is to hang up the phone, stop calling him, and let this thing ride itself out, because he’s going to be forced to capitulate.

    “The market and the American people are going to force him to capitulate.

    “Think like prime minister [Mark] Carney, don’t let the guy bully you, hang up the phone.”

    Link

    Trump did seem to be delighted when he said that “Japan is on its way to negotiate a deal.”

  342. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    WaPo – IRS chief to quit over deal to share data with immigration authorities

    Acting IRS commissioner Melanie Krause—the tax agency’s third leader since President Donald Trump’s inauguration […] Losing three agency leaders in three months is “unprecedented,”
    […]
    Treasury Department officials in recent days sought to circumvent IRS executives so immigration authorities could access private taxpayer information […] Those conversations largely excluded Krause’s input.

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem signed an agreement Monday allowing the practice, although IRS lawyers had counseled that the deal probably violates privacy law. Krause learned of the deal after representatives from the Treasury Department released it to Fox News
    […]
    Krause also felt unable to push back on moves the U.S. DOGE Service was forcing through the agency, they said, including dramatic staffing cuts, a technology infrastructure overhaul and long-term IRS priorities.
    […]
    Krause was the IRS’s chief operations officer before she became acting commissioner on Feb. 28. Her predecessor, Doug O’Donnell, retired rather than clash with DOGE and immigration enforcement officials […] O’Donnell replaced Danny Werfel, the Biden-appointed IRS commissioner who hoped to remain in office during Trump’s term. But Trump announced plans to fire him
    […]
    Improper disclosure of tax information is punishable with prison time and hefty fines. Taxpayers whose privacy is violated are entitled to monetary compensation. […] Under the terms of Monday’s agreement, [ICE] officials must provide the targeted person’s name and address, and the specific reason the disclosure could be relevant to a non-tax-related criminal investigation.

    Brendan Duke: “I can’t believe I’m saying this but it appears there’s no other way to put it: Elon Musk is essentially running the IRS.”

    Anna Bower: “WITAOIRS????????”

  343. Reginald Selkirk says

    Middle-Aged Man Trading Cards Go Viral in Rural Japan Town

    Children in a small Japanese town are obsessively collecting trading cards featuring local elderly men rather than popular fantasy creatures, helping bridge generational gaps in an aging rural community.

    In Kawara, Fukuoka Prefecture, the “Ojisan TCG” (Middle-aged Man Trading Card Game) features 28 local men with assigned elemental types and battle stats. The collection includes a former fire brigade chief and a prison officer-turned-volunteer whose card has become so sought-after that children request his autograph.

    Created by Eri Miyahara of the Saidosho Community Council, the initiative has doubled participation in town events. “We wanted to strengthen the connection between children and older generations,” Miyahara told Fuji News Network. “So many kids are starting to look up to these men as heroic figures.”

  345. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: birgerjohansson @334:
    TYT missed the bit where Trump couldn’t comprehend parents wanting their children’s bodies returned @265.

  346. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Follow-up to a coda @255.

    Andrea Pitzer:

    Leavitt confirmed that the WH is working on deporting US citizens to El Salvador. [Video clip]

    As the author of a history of concentration camps, I would like to emphasize that this is a very bad idea, and we should definitely not do it.

    If you’re standing at the lectern saying, “We’re not sure this idea is legal, but we’re pretty excited about it,” you might want to reevaluate your life choices.

    Anne Applebaum: “I am also the author of a history of concentration camps in the Soviet Union, and I concur.”

    Rando:

    “Violent criminals” will be used to describe women who have abortions, women who have miscarriages, trans people who are guilty of being trans, antifascist protestors, pro-Palestine protestors, homeless people, drug users, poor people who get evicted, and anyone who draws a dick on a Tesla.

  349. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Lee Kovarsky (Law professor, Habeas expert):

    THE SUPREME COURT’S TdA OPINION IS TERRIFYING.

    Not because it’s wrong, although it is, but because of how comfortable the Court seems in abusing authority to get to what it must see as an institutionally desirable outcome.

    The gist of the case is this—plaintiffs were trying to certify a class all of noncitizens similarly situated to Venezuelan nationals that the Trump admin was trying to remove under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Actually, “removal” is the wrong word, the Admin is trying to render them to a Salvadoran mega prison that has been accused of permitting torture.

    The only thing the class plaintiffs wanted was to bar their rendition to the Salvadoran prison under the AEA; they didn’t challenge their removal under other statutes or seek any discharge.

    SCOTUS just held that the class was thereby seeking “core” habeas relief, an assertion so preposterous it’s difficult to know where to start.

    What alarms me is how tendentious the citation to authority in the per curiam. The two primary cases on which the Court relies involve people serving state criminal sentences using 42 USC 1983 […] challenges to the lawfulness of the underlying convictions and sentences are “core” habeas functions.
    […]
    Obviously, OBVIOUSLY, these state-criminal-sentence scenarios are incredibly far afield from the relief the class is seeking here; they aren’t even seeking discharge, nor are they people serving criminal sentences.
    […]
    And all of this is maddening given two recent opinions where the court held that challenges to [transfers] were NOT CORE—LITERALLY USING THAT WORD.
    [*Quotes to that effect from those cases by Alito and Roberts.*]

    Same issues [with Brett Kavanaugh]. He gets VERY FIRST CASE HE CITES wrong. […] to support the proposition:

    “In the extradition context and with respect to transfers of [GTMO] and other wartime detainees, habeas corpus proceedings have long been the appropriate vehicle.”

    But LoBue was an extradition case, and EXPRESSLY STATED that challenges to removal didn’t have to go through habeas. That’s… bad.

    It’s so bad, in fact, that I break with those suggesting that this stuff is the result of the shadow-docket posture. The mistreatment of authority is so extreme that it had to be on purpose, & the opinion seems to have been reverse engineered to provide a veneer of legality to a policy decision.

    Side chat

    Robert Black (Constitutional scholar): “Ah you see this is Not Habeas when we’re trying to suspend it, but it Is Habeas when that means you have to file in Texas.”

    Lee Kovarsky: “This is the single most infuriating piece of the whole thing to me. Also because I’m 95% sure that, based on the phrasing in the per curiam, Alito was a/the primary author.”

    Rando: “I also thought ‘For all the rhetoric of the dissents…’ was a phrase I’ve read from Alito before.”

    Lee Kovarsky: “Yes that is the precise language that is the tell.”

     
    Max Kennerly: “Yet another case where SCOTUS gleefully trashed its own precedent—including recent precedent—to support an obviously unlawful policy outcome. Same thing they did with Texas’s SB 8“

  350. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    A historical tangent off the SCOTUS TdA thread @349.

    mitakuye (Anthropologist, PoliSci professor)

    And with that conclusion: welcome to the Supreme Court on American Indian cases from Johnson v McIntosh to Cherokee v. Georgia to Kagama to Lone Wolf to Lyng to City of Sherrill—basically, welcome to 200 years of rulings on Native cases (a few exceptions, of course).

    Felix Cohen on canaries.

     
    Indian Country Today – Getting a bead on Felix Cohen’s ‘miners’ canary’

    Here is what Cohen wrote in 1953:

    […] the Indian plays much the same role in our society that the Jews played in Germany. Like the Miner’s Canary, the Indian marks the shift from fresh air to poison gas in our political atmosphere and our treatment of the Indians, even more than our treatment of other minorities, reflects the rise and fall of our democratic faith.

    […]
    Cohen was protesting the trend in the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] to undermine progress toward tribal self-government. […] His devastating polemic is directed at then Indian Bureau Commissioner Dillon Myer, who has gone down in history as one of the worst influences on federal Indian policy in the 20th century. But Myer was appointed by […] Harry Truman at the suggestion of Cohen’s own former boss, New Deal-era Interior Secretary Harold Ickes.

    Myer knew nothing about Indians. […] he made his name during World War II as administrator of the Japanese-American internment camps. He brought his wartime rigidity to the BIA, even importing former concentration camp wardens as tribal supervisors. Ickes bitterly regretted his recommendation; in 1951 he wrote of Myer, “A blundering and dictatorial tin-Hitler tossed a monkey wrench into a mechanism he was not capable of understanding.”

  351. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    NYT – ‘Just a Mess’: Staff Cuts, Rushed Changes and Anxiety at Social Security

    The White House has grown worried enough about the political fallout from the long lines and wait times that White House officials are pressuring Social Security administrators to reduce the information they put online that could draw attention to problems
    […]
    But increasingly, the public knows […] Virender Kanwal, a biology professor in New Jersey, applied for retirement benefits online at the end of February, a few months before her 70th birthday. She said she knew she would have to provide proof of her citizenship […] she needed an appointment, and those need to be secured over the phone. […] she called daily for weeks but never got through. […] the call disconnected. Then she received a letter in late March saying her application would be denied if she did not provide her documents within 12 days. She began calling every few minutes, and said she was eventually placed on hold for six and a half hours before an agent finally answered just before midnight and gave her an appointment.

    Rando: “Reading stories like this, while painful in the short term, do give me hope that this will erode GOP support. It is necessary that GOP support be utterly decimated in the next few years, and MAGA relegated to a political fringe.”

  352. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Government Executive

    The Agriculture Department is planning to dismantle its presence in Washington, D.C. […] and will relocate those it does not lay off to three hubs around the country. The locations for those new offices have not yet been determined […] the shakeup will impact thousands of headquarters staff. USDA is expected to offload one of its two Washington headquarters buildings […] Those cuts are expected in late April or early May. […] [DOGE] was making the decisions on where cuts will take place.
    […]
    [In 2019, two Ag agencies were moved from DC to Kansas City, losing half their staff, taking years to recover productivity. Biden moved them back to DC.] USDA has not indicated whether it will provide relocation packages to those it requires to relocate this time around.

  356. says

    https://www.msnbc.com/all Chris Hayes

    ‘They’re attacking attorneys’: Lawyer representing student protestor detained
    Video is 8:21 minutes

    ‘Idiotic’: Trump’s tariffs aim to send us back to Triangle Shirtwaist Factory era
    Video is 8:41 minutes

  357. says

    As the White House’s campaign against law firms continues, Trump says a bit too much

    While several prominent law firms have tried to appease Donald Trump in response to his aggressive and unprecedented campaign against the industry, a handful have responded to presidential attacks by pushing back. As NBC News reported, those efforts are ongoing.

    Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP filed a motion [Tuesday] seeking to permanently block Trump’s executive order targeting the firm, which previously employed Robert Mueller, who led the Russia investigation after the 2016 election.

    “Simply put, blacklisting and sanctioning law firms for representing the President’s political opponents, devoting resources to causes the President dislikes, or hiring attorneys who have investigated the President is anathema to our constitutional order,” the filing says.

    “The Order avowedly—and severely—punishes WilmerHale for its attorneys’ advocacy on behalf of clients and causes the President does not like. And it does so for the avowed purpose of deterring other law firms from engaging in the same constitutionally protected conduct,” it added. [True]

    Hours after the firm filed its motion, Trump spoke at a White House event related to his efforts to boost the coal industry, and he suggested that he’d direct some of the law firms that have already surrendered to him to work on coal mining–related cases in support of the industry.

    And then he kept talking. [video at the link]

    “Have you noticed that lots of law firms have been signing up with Trump?” the president said, referring to himself in the third person. “$100 million, another $100 million for, uh, damages that they’ve done. They give you $100 million and then they announce that, ‘But we have done nothing wrong.’ And I agree, they’ve done nothing wrong. But what the hell, they give me a lot of money considering they’ve done nothing wrong.”

    […] the president has declared, out loud and on camera, that he agreed that the firms did “nothing wrong.”

    On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, two Democratic lawmakers — Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking member on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s investigations panel, and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee — launched an investigation this week, contacting firms directly about whether the White House’s scheme effectively constitutes extortion.

    [I snipped excerpts from Raskin’s and Blumenthal’s comments.]

    As for the larger industry, more than 500 law firms of various sizes last week signed onto a joint statement of support for Perkins Coie, one of the firms that’s fighting back against a Trump order.

    As for the firms that chose the path of appeasement and capitulation, they’re increasingly facing backlashes, including from within their own teams.

  358. says

    Washington Post link

    “Trade war escalations spark bond sell-off as companies worry about economy”

    “U.S. bonds sold off as a global trade war escalated, with the Trump administration’s harshest tariffs yet drawing swift retaliation from China and the European Union.”

    U.S. Treasury bonds sold off Wednesday as a global trade war escalated, with the Trump administration’s harshest tariffs yet drawing swift retaliation from China and the European Union.

    The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond, typically seen as a safe haven when markets are unsettled, rose sharply to more than 4.5 percent before retreating somewhat. Yields move inversely to prices, meaning investors are quickly selling U.S. bonds.

    The bond market’s woes are the latest sign of turmoil in financial markets: If higher yields on Treasury bonds persist, they could push up rates for consumer and business loans, too. Mortgages could become less affordable for home buyers, possibly hurting the housing market.

    Sophisticated investors probably sold bonds to raise cash during a time of market volatility, said Thomas Urano, managing partner at Austin-based Sage Advisory. Rising yields are probably temporary, he said, but the trade war and Federal Reserve’s response to it will determine the long-term path of interest rates.

    […] The Trump administration’s tariffs on 86 countries took effect after midnight, with duties on Chinese goods raised to 104 percent. China quickly responded with an 84 percent duty on all U.S. goods and has said it won’t back down.

    […] Canada’s tariffs of 25 percent on U.S. autos took effect Wednesday, and the European Union issued tariffs of its own with 25 percent duties on some U.S. products. Ahead of that announcement, European markets sold off overnight, with London’s FTSE 100, France’s CAC index and Germany’s DAX each down more than 3 percent. […]

  359. Reginald Selkirk says

    Hackers Spied on 100 US Bank Regulators’ Emails for Over a Year

    Hackers intercepted about 103 bank regulators’ emails for more than a year, gaining access to highly sensitive financial information, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter and a draft letter to Congress. From the report:

    The attackers were able to monitor employee emails at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency after breaking into an administrator’s account, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. OCC on Feb. 12 confirmed that there had been unauthorized activity on its systems after a Microsoft security team the day before had notified OCC about unusual network behavior, according to the draft letter.

    The OCC is an independent bureau of the Treasury Department that regulates and supervises all national banks, federal savings associations and the federal branches and agencies of foreign banks — together holding trillions of dollars in assets. OCC on Tuesday notified Congress about the compromise, describing it as a “major information security incident.”

    “The analysis concluded that the highly sensitive bank information contained in the emails and attachments is likely to result in demonstrable harm to public confidence,” OCC Chief Information Officer Kristen Baldwin wrote in the draft letter to Congress that was seen by Bloomberg News. While US government agencies and officials have long been the targets of state-sponsored espionage campaigns, multiple high-profile breaches have surfaced over the past year.

  360. Reginald Selkirk says

    Tariffs Are Bad, But Trump’s New Port Fees Are Also Shaping Up To Be A Disaster

    For obvious reasons, Trump’s tariffs have grabbed a ton of attention lately. Turning the entire global economy on its head and ceding the U.S.’s position as a global economic leader tends to do that. As bad as tariffs are, though, they aren’t the only idea Trump has to make everything you buy even more expensive. While we were focused on what cars would disappear from the U.S. market now that they’re no longer affordable, Trump decided to also hit Chinese-built cargo ships with massive port fees. If those port fees go into effect as planned, expect shipping delays that will make the COVID era sound fun in comparison.

    As Reuters reported in late March, Republicans’ current plan is to begin charging port fees of as much as $1.5 million on Chinese-built cargo ships at every port of call. They aren’t based on the value of the cargo that’s offloaded at each port, either, so while a ship that drops all its cargo at the Port of Los Angeles would pay a single port fee, a ship planning to stop at multiple U.S. ports would be charged the same fee at each stop. It’s a move that’s been pitched as a way to revitalize the U.S. shipping industry, but the Jones Act didn’t work, and it’s unlikely this will, as well…

  361. says

    To hear Pam Bondi tell it, immigrants might have followed the law and played by the rules, but the Trump administration has decided to no longer care.

    One of the ugliest elements of the 2024 presidential race was the Republican ticket’s campaign against Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio. This famously included Donald Trump falsely accusing people of eating house pets, but there was another angle to the story that mattered just as much.

    In September, then-Sen. JD Vance condemned the Haitians as “illegals.” Reminded that the immigrants were in the United States legally, the then-senator replied that because he disagreed with the existing legal process, “I’m still going to call them an illegal alien.”

    In other words, American laws were all fine and good, but as far as the future vice president was concerned, a Trump/Vance administration would be free to decide who is and is not in the country legally — not based on laws, but rather, on their whims.

    Three weeks later, without a month to go before Election Day, Trump echoed his running mate’s sentiment: Haitian migrants, he said, who’d been given Temporary Protected Status and were in the U.S. legally, were “illegal immigrants as far as I’m concerned.”

    But it wasn’t a matter of opinion. Trump’s baseless assumptions were irrelevant. In a system rooted in the rule of law, questions about illegalities aren’t supposed to come alongside politicians using the phrase “as far as I’m concerned.”

    All of this came to mind anew on Tuesday when Attorney General Pam Bondi briefly spoke to reporters outside the White House. [video at the link]

    When NBC News’ Peter Alexander asked Bondi, “Should those individuals who followed the rules as they existed at the time be forced to leave the country now?” the nation’s chief law enforcement official replied, “Well, Peter, the rules at the time weren’t fair. The rules were dangerous to Americans.” [rewriting history]

    It’s worth appreciating the implications of such an argument. To hear the attorney general tell it, those hoping to enter the United States might have followed the law, played by the rules, and done everything right, but the Trump administration has decided that it no longer cares.

    […] It’s the Republicans’ Springfield, Ohio, pitch all over again: You’re an “illegal alien,” not if the law says so, but if Team Trump says so.

    This approach is rooted in the idea that the United States is led, not by laws and institutions, but by a mercurial ruler who’ll tell us what’s true, until he changes his mind, at which point everyone will be expected to keep up.

    At a congressional hearing yesterday, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada asked a Trump nominee, “Why would any country want to do business with us, much less negotiate a trade deal, if we don’t even honor our ongoing agreements?”

    The senator was referring to the White House’s trade tariffs, but it’s a question with broad applicability. The credibility of the United States is taking a beating, and thanks to Trump and his team, it’s difficult to know when, or if, it will recover.

  362. says

    Reginald @360, that does sound like a disaster in the making.

    In sort of related news: Trump struggles with basic details as his tariffs agenda rocks global markets

    […] Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, “Business leaders are saying to me, ‘Why are we doing this?’ Everyone was very excited about President Trump’s agenda — deregulation, tapping into energy, tax cuts — and now, boom, with these tariffs everything has changed. Why are we doing this?”

    The fact that a conservative media host — hardly a critic of this White House — didn’t know the answer seemed like a bad sign. That said, the president has taken some steps toward offering an explanation for his radical and damaging plans: On Sunday night, en route to the nation’s capital after his latest golfing weekend, Trump told reporters that one of his principal goals is eliminating trade deficits. He added that, as far as he’s concerned, a trade deficit is “a loss” that he can’t tolerate.

    For those who’ve followed Trump’s career, the rhetoric was not surprising. He’s spent much of his tenure in public life condemning trade deficits.

    Whether he understands trade deficits, however, is a separate matter entirely.

    At a basic level, if the United States buys more products from a country than it sells, that gap represents a trade deficit. To hear Trump tell it, such deficits must necessarily be seen as a problem in need of a fix — because any such gap is proof that Americans are getting “ripped off.”

    As a New York Times report explained, this isn’t just wrong; it’s absurd.

    [E]conomists argue this is a flawed way to approach the issue, given that bilateral trade deficits crop up for many reasons beyond unfair practices. “It’s totally silly,” Dani Rodrik, an economist who studies globalization at Harvard University, said of Mr. Trump’s focus on bilateral deficits. “There’s no other way to say it, it makes no sense.”

    I’ve long wondered how I’d explain this to the president in a way he’d understand if I ever had an audience with him. […]

    In Trump’s first term, he was determined to lower the nation’s overall trade deficit. He failed: In 2019, the year before the pandemic, the Commerce Department said that the United States posted a $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit, the largest in the nation’s history.

    And yet, in 2019, the U.S. economy was nevertheless fine. […] The fact that Trump failed to shrink the trade deficit was entirely inconsequential.

    […]Trump doesn’t appear to have any idea what he’s talking about. As the Times’ Jamelle Bouie explained in his latest column, “He did not reason himself into his preoccupation with tariffs and can neither reason nor speak coherently about them. There is no grand plan or strategic vision, no matter what his advisers claim — only the impulsive actions of a mad king.”

    Trump’s confusion and ignorance are a problem, but making matters far worse is the fact that he’s wholly unaware of his confusion and ignorance. The president boasted during his first term, in reference to trade policy, “I understand that issue better than anybody.” He added soon after, “I know every ingredient. I know every stat. I know it better than anybody knows it.” [Blowhard spouting bullshit]

    […] Trump doesn’t know the issue, and he doesn’t know that he doesn’t know the issue.

    What’s more, a growing number of people — investors, foreign officials, business leaders here and abroad, et al. — are increasingly aware of the fact that the emperor has no clothes, which only makes the larger crisis more severe: Few have confidence that the man responsible for this mess knows what he’s doing, or even understands the issues at a rudimentary level.

  363. says

    JFC!

    Trump says he’s pausing most reciprocal tariffs for 90 days — but raising China’s to 125%

    “Just days after the president insisted that his trade tariffs were “here to stay” and would “never change,” the president announced an unexpected pause.”

    Related video at the link. “The volume of concern is increasing by the day.”

    Earlier this week, the U.S. stock market briefly rallied in response to speculation that Donald Trump was considering a 90-day pause to his policy on trade tariffs. The White House quickly knocked down the chatter, called it “fake news,” and the major indexes started dropping again.

    A few days later, the president published an item to his social media platform that announced a 90-day pause — but not for everyone. Trump’s oddly worded online statement read:

    [B]ased on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

    The apparent reversal came just one day after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “President Trump has a spine of steel, and he will not break.”

    It also comes just days after Trump insisted that his trade tariffs were “here to stay.” He also wrote, “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”

    That was before Trump said they were changing on Wednesday, at which point the domestic stock market surged.

    That said, the “pause” apparently does not apply to China, which remains one of the United States’ largest trading partners. “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” the president wrote in his latest missive.

    Soon after Trump’s online statement reached the public, a reporter reminded Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the White House’s latest tariffs had been in effect for less than a day [!] and asked, “Can you explain more of the decision making on what feels like a reversal here?”

    […] I don’t doubt that Trump and his team will now scramble to put a positive spin on the developments, but when a president changes his policy just days after saying he’ll never change his policy, it’s hard to see this as anything but a retreat in the face of failure.

    MSNBC’s Chris Hayes summarized the developments this way by way of Bluesky: “You set the house on fire, watched it burn, and then lost your nerve and put it out. You now have a partially burned house. Great job.”

  364. Reginald Selkirk says

    Senator puts hold on Trump’s nominee for CISA director, citing telco security ‘cover up’

    Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden has put a hold on the Trump administration’s nomination of Sean Plankey to head the federal government’s top cybersecurity agency, citing a “multi-year cover up” of security flaws at U.S. telecommunication companies.

    Wyden said in remarks, seen by TechCrunch and confirmed by the senator’s spokesperson, that he will block the nomination of Plankey to serve as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) until the agency agrees to release a 2022-dated unclassified report it commissioned detailing security weaknesses across the U.S. telecom network…

  365. says

    Text quoted by Sky Captain @350:

    “A blundering and dictatorial tin-Hitler tossed a monkey wrench into a mechanism he was not capable of understanding.”

    So apt!

    China vows to ‘fight to the end’ as Trump’s trade war escalates

    Well, that backfired. After […] Trump slapped a punishing 104% tariff on Chinese goods, Beijing hit back, announcing on Wednesday that it would raise its own tariffs on U.S. goods from 34% to 84%.

    In a pointed commerce ministry policy paper, China argued that Trump’s tit-for-tat trade war is counterproductive—and China is ready to fight fire with fire.

    “The Chinese government has the firm will and abundant means to take the necessary countermeasures and fight to the end. History and facts have proven that the United States’ increase in tariffs will not solve its own problems. Instead, it will trigger sharp fluctuations in financial markets, push up U.S. inflation pressure, weaken the U.S. industrial base, and increase the risk of recession—which will ultimately backfire on itself,” the paper said. [Yep. All true!]

    China isn’t wrong. With the U.S. economy already spiraling and global markets tumbling, Trump’s escalation couldn’t come at a worse time. And now, the world’s two largest economies are locked in a trade war triggered by Trump’s pettiness.

    According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the United States exported $143.5 billion in goods to China and imported $438.9 billion in 2024. The fallout from Trump’s tariff war will hit industries across the board and land squarely on the backs of everyday consumers.

    […] Negotiating with a man who is obsessed with appearing like a winner is no easy feat.

    On Monday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro dismissed Vietnam’s offer to lower tariffs on U.S. imports to 0%, saying the move “means nothing” after Trump slapped the country with a 46% tariff. He said that other countries dropping their tariffs is merely a starting point—suggesting that the White House feels entitled to demand anything while giving little or nothing in return. [Sheesh]

    […] Yet the White House keeps insisting that everything is fine, and Trump is naively convinced tariffs won’t come back to bite Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

    “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” he wrote on Truth Social.

    Meanwhile, Americans are just wondering how they’re going to afford groceries.

  366. says

    ICE chief wants deportations to work like Amazon—‘but with human beings’

    Acting Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons told attendees of the Border Security Expo conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday that he wants to round up human beings like Amazon deliveries.

    He said that the government needs to “get better at treating this like a business” and that he wants the deportation process to work “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.”

    Lyons’ dehumanizing language echoes both the rhetoric of past genocidal regimes—including Nazi Germany—and […] Trump himself, who has referred to immigrants as “animals,” “not human,” who were “poisoning the blood” of the country.

    Other Trump administration officials who attended the conference reinforced Lyons’ harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric. [video at the link] […]

  367. says

    Conservative podcaster and conspiracy theorist-turned-FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has reportedly sent out a call for a team of agents within the agency to serve as his personal bodyguards. That is a break from how the No. 2 person at the FBI has been protected in the past and is ironic considering Bongino’s tough guy image and the attacks he has leveled against—me (and others).

    NBC News reported on Tuesday that a message known internally as a canvass was sent out to agents asking them to temporarily serve on Bongino’s protective detail. The outlet noted that a full-time detail could mean as many as 20 agents protecting the man who once promoted the debunked QAnon conspiracy theory.

    Bongino’s predecessor, Paul Abbate, had only one agent assigned to protect him and Abbate carried a service weapon as well. NBC reports that former FBI officials told them that Bongino has declined to go through the gun qualification process and instead wants a full taxpayer-financed detail.

    “Of course he could carry—this is ridiculous,” former senior FBI official Frank Figliuzzi told NBC. “The question is, what is the actual risk and threat here, or does he just want a detail? This is taxpayer money we’re talking about.”

    Bongino is demanding protection at the same time Trump has ordered an end to security details protecting the district attorney for Manhattan and New York state’s attorney general—as revenge for prosecuting Trump’s crimes and filing civil lawsuit against him for fraud. […]

    Link

  369. says

    CNN:

    “These countries are calling us up. Kissing my a**. They are dying to make a deal,” Trump told a group of Republicans on Tuesday evening, hours before the tariffs were set to take hold. He described foreign leaders essentially groveling to avoid the new tariffs: “Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything sir.”

    Commentary:

    […] That. Is. A. Quote.

    […] They’re not groveling, however; quite the opposite. China Hits Back Again at Trump, Bringing New Tariffs on U.S. Goods to 84% (that’s from this morning, so it’s after Trump’s 104% slap on China went into effect.) A little while ago, EU greenlights over €20 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the US. And Canada’s counter-tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles kick in April 9. [Embedded links are available at the main link.]

    Some groveling.

    As with everything else Trump says and does, it’s all about him. His ego. His bottomless need to feel important, loved (or feared, at least), and perhaps last but definitely not least, to have everyone from law firms to universities to journalists to sovereign nations bow to him, grovel to him, beg the grace of his favor.

    […] Jamelle Bouie has a similar explanation in the NYT […], “The Tariff Saga Is About One Thing”:

    The fundamental truth of Donald Trump is that he apparently cannot conceive of any relationship between individuals, peoples or states as anything other than a status game, a competition for dominance. His long history of scams, hostile litigation — not to mention his frequent refusal to pay contractors, lawyers, brokers and other people who were working for him — is evidence enough of the reality that a deal with Trump is less an agreement between equals than an opportunity for Trump to abuse and exploit the other party for his own benefit. […]

    You could even say that this need to dominate — this overwhelming drive to show mastery — is constitutive of Trump’s self. There must be a loser or else there is no Trump.

    […] Trump’s insult has definitely made the European press […]

    Link

  370. says

    I haven’t found printed news confirmation, yet, but I heard on moribund TV news that tRUMP the coward just weaselled out and put a ‘pause’ on the tariff catastrophe he created and I saw the stock market surge thousands of points. WTF.
    Any solid confirmation of this would be appreciated.

  371. says

    Well, I did my homework and found many new posts about this, here’s one:
    https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/business/reciprocal-tariff-pause-trump/index.html
    Trump announces 90-day pause on ‘reciprocal’ tariffs with exception of …
    President Donald Trump announced a complete pause on all the “reciprocal” tariffs that went into effect at midnight, with the exception of China.
    and,
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live/stock-market-today-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-soar-as-trump-announces-90-day-pause-on-tariffs-for-most-countries-ups-levies-on-china-133616912.html
    Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq soar as Trump announces ’90 …
    TodayStock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq soar as Trump announces ’90 day pause’ on tariffs for most countries, ups levies on China … And the massive surge in long-term Treasury yields has served …

  372. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-will-force-energy-industry

    “Trump Will Force Energy Industry To Buy More Coal Over Everyone’s Dead Bodies”

    Donald Trump spent lots of time […] in his 2016 campaign insisting he would revive the coal industry, only for his efforts to do so in in his first term to fail badly. That’s because coal is dirty, inefficient, and far more expensive than fossil gas […] That market-driven transition away from coal was the single biggest factor in America’s progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, according to 2023’s National Climate Assessment. There’s also the simple fact that for years now, renewable energy (wind and solar, supplemented by storage) has also been far cheaper than coal, and is rapidly becoming cheaper than gas.

    But in Trump’s weird delusions, coal didn’t simply lose in the market, it was murdered by mean liberals who regulated it out of business. That’s demonstrably not true: It was primarily due to economics, and only partly to regulations. The disappearance of coal mining jobs is similarly due to both lower demand and to technological changes, particularly the shift from underground mining to strip mining. Currently, a record-low 40,200 people are still employed in coal mining, per the St. Louis Fed.

    But now that he’s decided to go full dictator, Trump on Tuesday issued four broad executive orders that he promised will bring back coal, because he is the boss and it must happen even if the industry doesn’t wanna. Spoiler warning: It still isn’t going to happen, beyond keeping some existing coal-fired plants in operation for a few years past their planned retirement dates, because coal is a shitty, polluting, expensive fuel that harms public health and increases death rates, not that human lives matter to Trump. […]

    Predictably, at Tuesday’s press conference announcing the new orders, Trump ignored coal’s decades-long economic decline and instead pretended that eliminating climate regulations would make the energy industry decide to switch back to an expensive, polluting, inefficient fuel that it’s already abandoning. […]

    “I call it beautiful, clean coal — I tell my people to never use the word ‘coal’ unless you put ‘beautiful, clean’ before it,” Mr. Trump said in the East Room of the White House surrounded by dozens of mostly men in hard hats. “We’re ending Joe Biden’s war on beautiful, clean coal once and for all.”

    Seriously, Trump just couldn’t stop talking about how much he loves miners and wants to be surrounded by miners. It’s almost as if he was grooming miners!

    At the White House ceremony on Tuesday, he repeatedly referred to the burly men who surrounded him, joking about whether the stage could handle their collective weight and about arm wrestling several of them. […]

    This administration really does have less interest in capitalism than in a weird kinky masculinity […]

    As for the actual executive order, which really is titled “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry,” Trump demands that coal be reclassified as a “critical mineral” for energy, and orders government agencies to sweep away all regulations that might slow the development of new coal mines, to speed up granting new coal leases on public lands [!], and creates a special exemption for coal mining from the National Environmental Policy Act. Yeah, the lawsuits against that one alone will be epic.

    The order also calls on agencies to eliminate any regulations that “seek to transition the Nation away from coal production and electricity generation,” as if that would make coal any more competitive with gas or renewables on cost. And of course the order directs federal agencies to push new coal power to meet the needs of all those AI data centers […]

    Another of Trump’s orders directly interferes in energy markets, ordering Energy Secretary Chris Wright to forbid utilities from shuttering costly, inefficient coal plants, because of course we’re in an “energy emergency.” (Trump’s stupid “emergency” declaration seeks to prevent deployment of new wind, solar, and storage, even though they can be brought online faster than new gas plants.)

    Even with all that shit, the most that Trump is likely to accomplish is keeping aging coal plants in business a few years longer while adding far more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, worsening warming. [True!] An energy executive told Politico that American utilities have zero interest in building new coal plants with an operating life of 40 years, both because gas and renewables are far cheaper, and because they know a future administration can simply reverse Trump’s executive orders.

    As it is, even the coal plants that stay open will likely only run when they’re needed to meet peak demand, because for most needs, fossil gas and carbon-free sources (including hydropower and nuclear, plus wind, solar, and storage) can do the job for less money.

    But as we say, this isn’t really about economics, or even American “energy dominance,” at least apart from Trump’s “dominance” kink. If Trump were serious about unlocking vast new energy resources, he’d be pushing renewables, which continue to be the most quickly growing segment of US energy. It’s really about revenge and turning back the clock, even when it defies economic sense.

    Oh yes, and here’s a teaser for our next piece on energy: Trump also issued an executive order yesterday aimed at blocking states from taking action on climate, because he has to control everything and he hates clean energy, especially if it’s in California or New York. We’ll tackle that tomorrow and look more closely at how Trump’s energy policy simply doesn’t add up, even as a plan to push fossil fuels.

  374. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-judge-writes-gulf-of-mexico

    […] The Associated Press reports:

    A federal judge ordered the White House on Tuesday to restore The Associated Press’ full access to cover presidential events, affirming on First Amendment grounds that the government cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech.

    U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ruled that the government can’t retaliate against the AP’s decision not to follow the president’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico. The decision, while a preliminary injunction, handed the AP a major victory at a time the White House has been challenging the press on several levels.

    “Under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists—be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere—it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” McFadden wrote. “The Constitution requires no less.”

    McFadden wrote] “The Court does not order the government to grant the AP permanent access to the Oval Office, the East Room or any other media event. It does not bestow special treatment upon the AP. Indeed, the AP is not necessarily entitled to the ‘first in line every time’ permanent press pool access it enjoyed under the (White House Correspondents Association). But it cannot be treated worse than its peer wire service either.”

    From the ruling again] [W]hile the AP does not have a constitutional right to enter the Oval Office, it does have a right to not be excluded because of its viewpoint. And the AP says that is exactly what is happening. The Court agrees. Indeed, the Government has been brazen about this. Several high ranking officials have repeatedly said that they are restricting the AP’s access precisely because of the organization’s viewpoint. Government counsel admitted that the AP was not being chosen for access, despite its “eligibility,” because of its viewpoint. (“I think the record is clear. . . . [T]hey are not being selected for Oval Office access because they refuse to adhere to what the President believes is the law of the United States . . . that the body of water is called the [REDACTED BY WONKETTE FOR WORLD HISTORICAL DUMBNESS]”). The Government offers no other plausible explanation for its treatment of the AP. The Constitution forbids viewpoint discrimination, even in a nonpublic forum like the Oval Office.

    […]

    Julie Pace writing for The Wall Street Journal:

    For anyone who thinks The Associated Press’ lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger. It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.

  375. says

    Appeals court halts rehiring of 24,000 federal workers

    “The ruling comes a day after the Supreme Court paused the rehiring of thousands of workers in another case.”

    A federal appeals court on Wednesday paused a lower court’s ruling ordering the government to rehire around 24,000 probationary workers.

    “The Government is likely to succeed in showing the district court lacked jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims,” the 2-1 ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said, staying an order from last month that the workers be rehired.

    The panel said it was pausing the ruling until it decides the government’s full appeal.

    The decision effectively ends the last injunction directing that the workers get their jobs back. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a similar ruling, halting a California judge’s order requiring several federal agencies to reinstate around 16,000 workers the Trump administration had sought to fire. […]

  376. says

    Followup to comment 363.

    […] Trump’s announcement sent the stock market soaring, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing more than 2,500 points minutes after his announcement.

    But a 10% blanket tariff on nearly every country is still insane and inflationary.

    “He says a 10% across-the-board tariff still applies to [Ecuadorian] bananas, Vietnamese clothing, and South Korean TVs. And presumably the tariffs on cars, steels, and coming tariffs on drugs still apply. This is a giant working class tax hike—not a pause!” Brendan Duke, a former member of the National Economic Council, wrote on X.

    If Trump had initially implemented this 10% blanket tariff on “Liberation Day,” it likely still would have caused the stock markets to plummet, leading experts to warn of coming inflation and a possible recession.

    What’s more, Trump’s absurd 125% tariff on Chinese imports will quite literally decimate certain industries—such as apparel, toys, and electronics—which are, for the most part, made in China.

    […] On Tuesday, one day before Trump’s announcement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing that Trump was not considering pausing the tariffs.

    “The president was asked and answered this. He said he’s not considering an extension or delay,” she said.
    [video at the link]

    […] Meanwhile, House Republicans are doing nothing to stop Trump’s chaotic policymaking.

    In fact, GOP leaders are actively trying to block Congress from regaining tariff authority by sneaking in a rule into a budget vote, which says that members cannot force votes on legislation to cancel Trump’s tariffs. […]

    Link

  378. says

    Here’s the timeline:

    Feb. 1: Trump announces the imposition of new tariffs on the United States’ three largest trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — and says there is nothing anyone can do to delay the policy.

    Feb. 3: The American president backs off, claiming he’s made some last-minute deals that effectively did not exist.

    March 4: Trump again announces that he’s imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

    March 5: He exempts auto makers from his policy.

    March 6: Trump issues another round of broad exemptions for a wide range of goods.

    April 2: In a speech filled with bizarre lies, president announces it’s “Liberation Day” and unveils sweeping international tariffs based on a formula that was quickly exposed as gibberish.

    April 3 to April 8: The president, White House officials, congressional Republicans and their allies insist there is simply no way that Trump would back down under pressure as his tariff policy rocks global markets and raises the specter of a recession.

    April 9: Trump backs down under pressure, pausing much — but not all — of his failing policy.

    Commentary:

    […] it’s important to emphasize that Trump’s reversal does not create an “all’s well that ends well” dynamic. An erratic White House has created months’ worth of chaos, undermining international confidence in the United States, its economy and its leadership. Complicating matters, the new policy — at least for now — is still likely to undermine the economy, and no one seems altogether sure exactly what the new tariff rates are for our largest trading partners. […]

    Link

  379. says

    FBI Director Kash Patel, who was installed by […] Trump as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, has quietly been removed from the agency, whose primary role is to investigate federal offenses involving firearms and explosives.

    According to Reuters, Patel has been replaced by U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, but a formal announcement has yet to be released.

    NBC’s Ken Dilanian reported that ATF officials, who only learned about Patel’s departure on Wednesday, “were shocked and confused,” noting that Patel “had not been seen inside an ATF facility for weeks.” […]

    The chaotic state of the agency’s leadership comes as the Trump administration prepares to roll back regulations from the Biden administration, which protect Americans from gun violence.

    Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Monday that she will eliminate President Joe Biden’s “zero tolerance” policy, which strips away federal gun licenses for gun dealers who repeatedly violate the law.

    Hundreds of sellers who were potentially putting guns into the hands of dangerous individuals had their licenses revoked under the Biden policy. But now under Trump, those individuals will be allowed to own firearms.

    Despite the danger to the public, Trump’s action was praised as a “significant win” by Gun Owners of America, a right-wing extremist group with past ties to white-supremacist organizations, including the KKK.

    Bondi also intends to roll back Biden-era checks on people who use stabilizing braces to turn pistols into rifles and a regulation that made gun sellers adhere to stringent licensing and background check requirements. […]

    With Trump in the White House, gun extremists have a key ally—and the public is in danger.

    Link

  380. Reginald Selkirk says

    Exclusive: Kash Patel removed as acting ATF director, replaced by Army Secretary, sources say

    FBI Director Kash Patel was removed as the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and replaced by U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, seven people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
    Driscoll will continue to serve as Army Secretary while he also oversees the ATF, an arm of the U.S. Justice Department, said three of the sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters that were not yet public…

  381. says

    See You In Guantanamo! That Man Now Openly Fantasizing About Sending US Citizens To Foreign Prisons.

    Just two days ago, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in her blistering dissent in the Supreme Court decision that ruled Kilmar Abrego Garcia and others illegally shipped to El Salvador mega-prison would stay there indefinitely:

    The implication of the Government’s position is that not only noncitizens but also United States citizens could be taken off the streets, forced onto planes, and confined to foreign prisons with no opportunity for redress if judicial review is denied unlawfully before removal. History is no stranger to such lawless regimes, but this Nation’s system of laws is designed to prevent, not enable, their rise.

    She’s referring to the part where Chief Justice John Roberts and his four co-signers decided Lord President Executive can use WAR POWERS to declare anybody an enemy combatant, even when the US is not at war, and use that to detain and/or deport anybody […] And when it comes to getting innocent people out of a torture prison […] well, the Roberts Court says don’t be too hasty!

    […] In addition to planning to spend $45 billion-with-a-B on domestic ICE concentration camps, on Sunday night Trump also fantasized to reporters about being able to send American citizens […] to foreign prisons: [video at the link]

    “If we could take some of our 20-time wise guys that push people into subways and that hit people over the back of the head and that purposely run people over in cars, uh, if he would take them I’d be honored to give them, I don’t know what the law says on that, but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different, if they can house these horrible criminals for a lot less money than it costs us I’m all for it, but I’d only do it according to the law, but I have suggested that, you know, why should it stop just at people that cross the border illegally? We have some horrible criminals, American-grown and -born, and if we have somebody that bops an old woman over the head, if we have somebody that is in jail 20 times and goes back and shoots people all over the place and then has a bad judge or a bad prosecutor that do nothing about him, and all they worry about is politics, […] I think if we could get, uh, El Salvador or somebody but to take them I’d be very happy with it but I have to see what the law says.”

    […] And after the Supreme Court decision on Monday, Karoline Leavitt’s spokeshole made some more foreign lock-em-up fantasies: [video at the link]

    “These would be heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly. These are violent, repeat offenders on American streets. […] The president has said if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that, he’s not sure. We are not sure if there is, it’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly as in the effort of transparency.”

    Well, thanks for the warning?

    […] even the Dubya administration and John Yoo knew that holding American citizens in an offshore prison on a naval base and subjecting them to Geneva Convention-violating torture was illegal and a bad look […] in 2004 in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court ruled that Guantánamo detainees must have a meaningful opportunity to challenge their enemy combatant status and have access to lawyers, and that the Geneva Conventions apply to them. […] the Supreme Court required the Department of Defense to create military tribunals for reviewing the status of enemy combatants, overseen not by civilian lawyers but by military officers appointed by the Secretary of Defense [currently, that is Pete Hegseth!]. But while the opportunity for a detainee to challenge their status had to be meaningful, it did not have to be fast. One detainee, Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi, was held at Guantánamo for twenty years without ever being charged for a crime.

    […] remember how Ginni Thomas fantasized about military tribunals for the Bidens? Her husband and pals have now given Trump a playbook for how that could happen, you’re welcome, Ginni! Just call anybody an enemy combatant now, then wartime laws will apply.

    Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem have been openly fantasizing about refilling Guantánamo in such a way, too. It’s America’s dirty little legal loophole! Since 2001, 780 people from 48 countries have been imprisoned there, though thanks to the efforts of Obama and Biden, only 15 prisoners remain. […]

  382. says

    WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it a “serious breach of the Department of Justice’s code of conduct,” on Wednesday Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she had terminated a career DOJ employee who was caught with a copy of the U.S. Constitution on his desk.

    Bondi said that the employee, who had worked at the department for 37 years, had “raised suspicions” by using “telltale phrases like ‘due process’” in DOJ memos.

    At Bondi’s direction, US marshals ransacked his office, discovered the offending document, and frog-marched him out of the building.

    Bondi took the opportunity to remind all DOJ staffers that the U.S. Constitution is on the Republican Party’s banned reading list.

    Link

  383. says

    FBI Director Kash Patel was removed as the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and replaced by U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, seven people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

    I’m sorry, but are you seriously telling me that the control of government agencies is something we learn about through leaks from unofficial channels? As in, if these random people didn’t tell us about it, nobody would know who was actually in charge?
    I very much hope I’m reading too much into this phrasing, but at this point, how can I be sure?

  384. says

    According to the official website, Kash Patel is still the acting director.
    I note that the article uses the past tense; “was removed”, not “will be removed”.
    WTActualF.

  385. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Sahil Kapur (NBC):

    This is big: House Republicans tucked language into the budget res “rule” that bans the House from voting to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration used to impose tariffs. TL;DR lawmakers who vote for this are officially giving up their power to revoke his tariffs until October.
    –
    House voted 216-215 to adopt this rule.

    Tim Onion: “Worth noting that this passed by one vote and two Democratic congresspeople have died in office in the last six weeks.”
    * Sylvester Turner (TX) at 70 and Raúl Grijalva (AZ) at 77.

    Rando: “Greg Abbott is preventing Houston from replacing one of them.”

  386. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re: LykeX @383:

    I’m sorry, but are you seriously telling me that the control of government agencies is something we learn about through leaks from unofficial channels?

    Teehee.

    Anna Bower (Lawfare):

    WITAOD WATCH: “Amy Gleason, acting administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency, denied responsibility for widespread government layoffs in a message to industry colleagues obtained by the Chronicle.”

    The April 2 message, the first statement by Gleason made public since her role in DOGE was announced was sent in a nearly 300-person group chat of health care innovators [who were arguing] over Gleason’s role in the mass April 1 layoffs at [HHS].

    “Nothing about my role has been hidden. It was publicly announced shortly after I became acting administrator,” Gleason said.

    [thinking face emoji]
    One day after the WH revealed Gleason as the acting DOGE administrator, Karoline Leavitt said she’d been in the role for “quite some time… several weeks, maybe a month.”

    “I currently serve as acting administrator of the U.S. Doge Service… That’s separate from (1) the embedded agency Doge teams—who are hired directly into each agency—and (2) the broader Doge policy agenda that Elon Musk advises the President on,” Gleason said.”

    WITAODlings, we’ve been looking for ONE administrator of DOGE but what if there are THREE of them??????????
    […]
    THE FATHER, THE SON, THE HOLY DOGE
    THE DOGE TRINITY
    WITAODT????

    Randos:

    “I’m sorry. […] A 300 PERSON GROUP CHAT???”

    “Group chat? Who are we invading now?”

    “I’m the acting administrator, but no sirree bob did I have anything to do with that of which I am responsible for administrating.” —Amy Gleason, head of DOGE, apparently

  387. Reginald Selkirk says

    Canadian superhero Captain Canuck is having a comeback

    U.S. President Donald Trump’s annexation threats and tariffs have breathed new life into a superhero from the 1970s: Captain Canuck, a government agent with superhuman strength who defends Canada’s sovereignty.

    “All of a sudden, Canadians are looking to Captain Canuck as a symbol. And it’s basically, to them, Captain Canuck symbolizes independence,” said Richard Comely, 74, the artist who co-created the comic book character.

    Captain Canuck, a.k.a. Tom Evans, is a Mountie who gained his special powers after an alien encounter. He wears a white and red outfit emblazoned with maple leaves…

  388. birgerjohansson says

    Shermanj @ 370
    Lynna, OJ @ 363
    I also found this out.
    This is governance by bungee cord.
    The White House spin is that the tariffs caused 75 countries to call the state department and bow down to Trump.
    Reality: 75 countries: “WTF?”
    All countries in the world: “Trump has stolen Musk’s ketamine”.

  389. Reginald Selkirk says

    Researchers uncover a link to autism—and it isn’t vaccines

    Just as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for an investigation into debunked claims of vaccines causing autism, a massive new study bolsters a body of evidence behind an entirely different link to the neurodevelopmental disorder: gestational diabetes.

    The study, out of China and published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal, is the latest to show a connection between diabetes during pregnancy, which affects up to 9% of U.S. pregnancies, and an increased risk not only of autism, but also other brain and nervous system problems.
    …
    While the research—a meta-analysis of data pooled from 202 earlier studies of more than 56 million mother-child pairs—doesn’t show whether gestational diabetes actually causes those problems, it shows that when mothers have diabetes while pregnant, children are 28% more likely to be diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder…

  390. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Wired – Donald Trump’s return-to-office mandate is going terribly

    many […] are traveling long distances to spend all of their time in virtual meetings. “I don’t directly work with anyone in the office that I am going into,” […] It isn’t just traveling to work to sit on Zoom calls—it’s that there may be no place to take the call or no working internet to connect to it.
    […]
    “The workplace environment is unpleasant, loud, […] and the workload is insane with the mass layoffs and hiring freeze,” […] The employee says they cry almost every day after leaving the office.
    […]
    there isn’t enough space in federal offices, or necessary equipment, to make their return worthwhile. […] simply accessing the facility a daily struggle […] “There are not enough gate guards to open multiple access points so the traffic backs up onto the highway.”
    […]
    employees are not assigned office spaces until they arrive at work each day. “Every day, we have to go to one room to get an office assignment,” […] The offices are also so “gross,” the employee says, that they bring their own cleaning products to work. […] “If you’re stuck on a floor without enough chairs, you’re stuck standing for eight hours,”
    […]
    “For private staff calls I have to go out to my truck and use my personal phone […] I have requested a government cell, but they tell me I won’t get it since I’m back in an office.”
    […]
    At the Internal Revenue Service, which ordered its workers back to the office four weeks ago, the $1 limit caused significant problems […] “They have no soap, toilet paper, or paper towels anywhere in the building. Their water machine is broken. Many cannot get on LAN, and the Wi-Fi keeps going down,” one IRS employee tells WIRED. Another SSA employee says that they were told to “ration paper.”
    […]
    “With no car, I am walking a mile to the train, and from the station to the office on concrete and metal, limping along, using elevators when I can,” they say, adding, “While I can ask for Reasonable Accommodations, our DEI offices were gutted[“]
    […]
    “People here love their jobs. We love what we do,” they say. “Getting fired would mean so much more than just losing a paycheck.”

     
    The Onion – RFK Jr. orders removal of sinks from HHS bathrooms

    “People across the world lived for thousands of years without sinks, and they were just fine—healthier, even […] licking your hands clean can actually improve your immune system. Soap dispensers will remain, but only so you can drink from them.” At press time, sources reported that Kennedy had eliminated toilets and was urging staffers to dispose of their waste by simply throwing it out the window.

    Optimistic of the Onion to suggest they’d have soap.

  395. birgerjohansson says

    PS
    Since the penguins won the trade war, does that mean the blue stuff at the bottom of the map is now “The Gulf of Antarctica” ?

  396. Akira MacKenzie says

    @ 392

    Germany is so desperate to prove they aren’t Nazis anymore that they are willing to condone a genocide perpetrated by their former victims.

  397. DrVanNostrand says

    House failed to pass budget. I’ve seen some conflicting reporting about whether they’ll try again tomorrow. They’re supposed to go home tomorrow, and I don’t think there’s anything that can really be done to convince the “Freedom Caucus” to accept this Senate version. My bet is the Senate and House will have to go back into negotiations, which is good, because if they’re going to cut $880 billion from Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the rich, every one of those ratfuckers should at least have to vote for it on the record.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/09/house-gop-cancels-budget-vote-00283121

  398. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Law Dork – Two judges issue temporary orders blocking Alien Enemies Act removals

    Since SCOTUS wanted habeas, ACLU is attempting to define and defend classes of immigrants, in New York and Texas. They won two TROs blocking further deportation of Venezuelans. Both classes were localized: SDNY and a Texas detention center. The underlying AEA proclamation used to ‘justify’ deportations has not been scrutinized yet. Unknown how many people are protected. Judge figured NY gets lots of visitors, and the TX facility holds many potential subjects of AEA.
     
    The Onion – Judge gives Trump administration 3 days to return her from El Salvador prison

  399. says

    NBC News:

    The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that for now President Donald Trump is not required to reinstate two members of independent federal agencies he wants to fire. The provisional decision affects Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Chief Justice John Roberts issued an order that temporarily blocked lower court rulings that said the two officials should be reinstated.

  400. says

    NBC News:

    President Donald Trump’s tariff policy continued having a dizzying effect on global markets Wednesday, causing U.S. government borrowing costs to surge while stocks saw choppy trading as China ratcheted up retaliatory tariffs.

  401. says

    New York Times:

    Three people were killed and three others were wounded in a shooting on a residential street just outside Fredericksburg, Va., on Tuesday, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office said. … ‘All suspects’ were in custody and there was ‘no threat to public safety,’ the sheriff’s office said on social media.

  402. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Another DoJ lawyer humiliating himself.

    Background
    Chris Geidner: “DOJ just posted the 222-page deposition (including index) of Noah Peters, the senior advisor to the OPM director, in the California-based probationary employee firing litigation.”

    Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “Worth it just for this exchange.”

    Plaintiffs’ MS. LEONARD: So that was the reason you thought it was a good idea to write this memo telling agencies to collect lists of all their probationary employees, because you believe the agencies were not using the performance assessments correctly? Is that right?

    DoJ’s MR. FUCHS: Objection. Lack of foundation. Objection. Leading.

    THE WITNESS: Yeah. I mean, it’s certainly a leading question.

    MS. LEONARD: This is cross, by the way.

    Rando 1:

    “cross” means that this is opposing counsel in the deposition asking the questions. You’re not allowed to “lead” your own witness in direct examination. “a leading question” is the quintessence of cross-examination.

    “this is cross, by the way” is a reminder /she is opposing and that’s how it works/
    [It’s devastating. You’re devastated right now.]

    Rando 2: “I remember the first time I did mock trial in high school, too.”
     
    Fuchs has been a licensed attorney since 2014!?

  403. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Joe Kent—Trump’s pick to lead the National Counterterrorism Center—is due for a confirmation hearing.

    He was in the infamous Signal chat. Conspiracy nutter. He had called for murder charges against Anthony Fauci. Jan 6th denier. Said Putin’s Ukraine annexation demands were very reasonable. Hung out with Nick Fuentes and had a Proud Boy on his campaign staff. Considers antifa and BLM to be terrorist insurgents. Helped start a paramilitary group. Has a giant upper-arm tattoo of the word “Panzer“.

    Hm. I don’t see any criminal charges or assault allegations. He’s underqualified.

  406. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Another independent agency. This seems bad.

    Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket):

    DOGE will descend upon Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) buildings tomorrow, an agency source tells me.

    FDIC is responsible for insuring all commercial/personal US bank accounts for up to $250k and regulating banks. Scary in light of Trump’s manipulation of markets this week.

    Rando 1: “This means it’s time for everyone to pull everything out of all the banks all at once right?”

    Rando 2: “I mean it is hard to cause a greatest depression if we still have the safety tools we developed to stop a great depression.”

  407. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Sarah Jeong (The Verge):

    Something I found really interesting after talking to Korean protesters was… well, it was actually me realizing something about protest in the US: protest is trapped in an unwinnable spiral about “peaceful” versus “violent” protest, and even people who know it’s dumb can’t break free.

    Something protesters kept telling me about the big demonstration during the first impeachment vote was that *they were pleased that it was safe.* […] it didn’t sound like an American apologia for peaceful protest, where the absence of specific actions makes the protest good, they talked about it like “oh some of us learned a lot from the park geunhye protests (2016ish) and we helped our juniors”.
    […]
    The safety of subsequent organized demonstrations was something they seemed to treat as a difficult endeavor, a project to work towards, something to be proud of.

    It made me notice that the American left is so accustomed to police violence that it has given up on *succeeding to be safe* and has capitulated to violent/peaceful dichotomy in its own way—if there is no violence, it’s useless lib shit.

    Something I also found really interesting was the heavy emphasis on conformity in protest, something that is anathema in all walks of American political life. eg: swathes of the crowd would be directed to sit down on the ground at the same time; this locked the crowd in space and prevented crushing […] and to be honest, I found various acts of conformity to be both startlingly foreign and impressively intimidating. A guy setting a trash can on fire is one guy feeling feisty. but a thousand strangers sitting down in neat rows apropos of nothing is a veiled threat. (I believe the crowd that one day was estimated in the millions?)
    […]
    I don’t know how Americans will break out of that spiral! But one thing I do know, is that Korean protests were infinitely more entertaining than the tired old American march-and-die-in, and maybe more surprisingly, way more fun than watching a guy’s futile attempt at setting concrete on fire.

    So maybe it’s fine to try to model American protest after […] the later demonstrations […] helping your juniors to have fun is a worthy act of service to the community.

  409. birgerjohansson says

    First they came for the LBTQ community, and I said “no”.
    Then they came for people of different races, and again I said “no”.
    And when they came for the poor, I proudly said “no”.
    Now they are here for the penguins, and I am just fucking confused.

  411. lumipuna says

    Update to my 191:

    Some of us remember Sanal Edamaraku, the famous Indian skeptic activist who fled his country in 2012 to avoid arrest and violence over religious blasphemy. He’s been living in Finland and doing speaking gigs in various countries. Now he’s been arrested in Poland (a country that apparently has sympathy for cranky Catholic zealots) and faces extradition to India.

    From this story:

    https://yle.fi/a/74-20154629

    As it turns out, Edamaraku was recently convicted here in Finland for conning a large amount of money from an Indian woman, who practically went broke. I never saw the news on that. The conviction – six months of parole and paying back 21,000 euros – is currently being held on appeal.

    It is currently unclear/undisclosed what is the official legal basis for Edamaraku’s international warrant that led to his arrest in Poland. His daughter has suggested that India is using the financial crime (which has been processed in Finland for several years now) as an excuse to get him extradited, but the real motivation is to get him is blasphemy.

  412. Reginald Selkirk says

    Bank of England Says AI Software Could Create Market Crisis For Profit

    Increasingly autonomous AI programs could end up manipulating markets and intentionally creating crises in order to boost profits for banks and traders, the Bank of England has warned. From a report:

    Artificial intelligence’s ability to “exploit profit-making opportunities” was among a wide range of risks cited in a report by the Bank of England’s financial policy committee (FPC), which has been monitoring the City’s growing use of the technology.

    The FPC said it was concerned about the potential for advanced AI models — which are deployed to act with more autonomy — to learn that periods of extreme volatility were beneficial for the firms they were trained to serve. Those AI programs may “identify and exploit weaknesses” of other trading firms in a way that triggers or amplifies big moves in bond prices or stock markets.

  413. Reginald Selkirk says

    Adam Schiff Calls For Insider Trading Investigation into Trump Over Tariff Pause

    enator Adam Schiff on Wednesday called on Congress to investigate whether President Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation when he abruptly paused a sweeping set of tariffs, a move that sent stock prices skyrocketing.

    “I’m going to do my best to find out,” Schiff, a California Democrat, tells TIME. “Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves. I hope to find out soon.” …

  414. Reginald Selkirk says

    Blade Runner 2049 AI Lawsuit Rules That Elon Musk’s Tesla Can Still Be Sued for Copyright Infringement

    Things are getting too meta in this dystopian landscape. Blade Runner 2049‘s production company Alcon Entertainment has sued Tesla and Elon Musk for allegedly feeding stills from the Warner Bros. picture to an AI image generator to create promotional material for the car manufacturer. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Alcon’s trademark claim, while dismissed, has prompted a re-examining of the peculiar similarities between Blade Runner 2049 and Tesla’s ad campaign that allows smaller cases of copyright infringement to continue against the company.

    The image in contention is a still of Ryan Gosling’s Officer K standing in the orange-hued wasteland expanse next to a futuristic car. The suit from Alcon claims that the still was used to create “unlicensed promotional materials” while including film distributor Warner Bros. Discovery for “facilitating the partnership” in a violation of Alcon Entertainment’s trademarks.

    The judge ruled in favor of Warner Bros. and Tesla, which had partnered up for the robotaxi’s unveiling. At the event, Tesla boss Elon Musk debuted an image of his Cybercab displayed in an eerily similar ad that looks like the scene in question from Blade Runner 2049. Tesla denied the use of trademarked materials; Alcon had accused the company of using an AI image generator to strip imagery from the scene from 2049 without using licensed permission. The grounds for the ruling were that Alcon was only working off “information and belief ” in this copyright infringement case, according to THR.

    The technicality may have won the battle, however Alcon revealed in the court case that it had denied Tesla the use of Blade Runner 2049 hours before the presentation in question. The judge ruled, “Given the tight timeframe Musk and Tesla were working with in light of their last-minute request—and the resulting last-minute denial—to make use of BR2049, it is not at all implausible for Plaintiff to allege on information-and-belief that they made use of an AI image-generator to come up with the finished product.”

    Most of the claims can therefore move forward—except for one which had initially invoked the Lanham Act (aka the Trademark Act of 1946, which Alcon had claimed Tesla violated through its barring of false association), as Musk only mentioned the film once during the event, but not in a way that implied legitimacy to Alcon’s accusations.

  415. Reginald Selkirk says

    DOGE Is About to Get DOGE’d

    While it often seems that no one is watching the watchmen under the Trump administration, a new report from Wired suggests there is at least one agency still keeping tabs on the Department of Government Efficiency and its seemingly unfettered reach into the guts of government. The publication, citing government records and sources, revealed that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) launched an investigation back in March into how Elon Musk’s pseudo-agency has been handling data in the offices that it has pried its way into.

    According to the report, the GAO has requested information from a number of agencies where DOGE has dug in its claws, including the Social Security Administration, the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, and the Treasury. Included in the requests are any incident reports on “potential or actual misuse of agency systems or data,” as well as records of systems that DOGE has accessed, among other details.

    The audit, which comes from an agency that operates under the legislative branch, marks the first significant challenge to DOGE’s operations that has not come from the courts. Per Wired, the investigation—which is scheduled to wrap up by the end of spring and will produce a publicly accessible report of its findings—will focus primarily on DOGE’s adherence to privacy and data protection laws and regulations. The probe was reportedly spurred by requests from multiple agencies, meaning there are likely still people within the workforce who are at least a little skeptical of what Musk and the DOGE team are up to…

  416. rorschach says

    @413,
    “whether President Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation when he abruptly paused a sweeping set of tariffs”

    Well, call volume on stock indices spiked 20 minutes before the announcement, so I’d say that’s a Yes. The question is if Trump himself made money from this, as this would be an impeachable offense. Not that Schiff or any of these other Dem collaborators would have the guts to impeach him now anyway.

  419. KG says

    The question is if Trump himself made money from this – rorschach@416

    Other dificult questions concern the religious affiliation of the Pope, and the sanitary arrangements of bears.

  421. whheydt says

    Re: rorschach @ #416…
    Senator Schiff wouldn’t have a say in impeaching That Felon in the White House. Impeachment is carried out in the House and–if it happens–then proceeds to be tried in the Senate. (I really, really wish people would stop confusing impeachment with conviction/acquittal.)

  423. rorschach says

    “(I have a feeling the Chinese are not going to back down anytime soon. Hello recession)”

    And Australia, btw too. Their tariffs were not cancelled either. Musk, who is notably not at the cabinet meeting today, produces a lot of Teslas in Shanghai. China.

  427. rorschach says

    “Trump caves on tariffs: One economic indicator made even Trump realize he’d gone too far”

    Yes, bond yields. But the markets today demonstrate that investors have had enough, and lost faith in orderly market functioning under this clownshow admin. 2 and a bit hours into the American session and we’re again 3-5% down across the board.

  428. says

    I’m not sure which perspective on the emperor magat is correct. This is an important decision we must make in order to know how to counteract his insanity.
    Is it this:
    https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/04/10/somebodys-off-their-showerhead/
    or this:
    http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/113518/trump-only-simulates-madness

    either way, this country is sliding into a morass of lawlessness, chaos, murder and destruction.

    And, then, there is this crap:
    U.S. Senate Confirms Christian Zionist Mike Huckabee as Israel Ambassador
    https://www.democracynow.org/2025/4/10/headlines/us_senate_confirms_christian_zionist_mike_huckabee_as_israel_ambassador

  429. rorschach says

    Might get a circuit breaker today (trading suspended), Nassie not far from 7% down now. That hasn’t happened since day 1 of the pandemic, and remember, he actually halted the tariffs yesterday!

  430. says

    lumipuna @411, thanks for the update. It is not a clear situation. Still, it sounds to me like Edamaraku should have just been prosecuted in Finland, where he was convicted, and that no referral to an international law enforcement agency (nor extradition to India) was necessary. I agree with his daughter that the real motivation is to get him for blasphemy.

    In other legal news: In authoritarian fashion, Trump orders probes into two ex-officials who defied him

    “[Trump’s] new efforts to target Christopher Krebs and Miles Taylor are so radical that Liz Cheney described the tactics as ‘Stalinesque.’ ”

    […] It was Donald Trump, in his first term, who did exactly what the GOP falsely accused Joe Biden of doing [“weaponizing” the Justice Department]: There’s overwhelming and uncontested evidence that Trump spent much of his first term trying to transform agencies and officials — including prosecutors — into his own personal attack dogs.

    Trump’s former White House chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly, went so far as to alert the public to the fact that the president “regularly” wanted to use the Justice Department to retaliate against critics.

    In the Trump’s second term, he’s picking up where he left off — and by some measures, making matters worse. NBC News reported:

    […] Trump directed federal agencies Wednesday to revoke the security clearances and review the activities of two high-level former government officials who questioned his election fraud claims and his conduct in his first term.

    Let’s take these one at a time.

    During Trump’s first term, Christopher Krebs led the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which was responsible for combatting foreign interference in our elections and preventing attacks. Krebs earned bipartisan praise for his work, and after the 2020 election cycle, The Washington Post’s David Ignatius noted, “When the history books about this election are written, Krebs will be one of the heroes.”

    The day Ignatius’ column was published, Trump fired Krebs — not because he’d done anything wrong but because the president wanted him to go along with his lies about the election results. When Krebs instead told the truth, he was shown the door.

    Four and a half years later, Trump issued an order that not only described Krebs as a “significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his Government authority” — a claim the president made while abusing his government authority — it also directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Homeland Security to “review” Krebs’ work and activities.

    Miles Taylor, meanwhile, was a former high-ranking official in Trump’s Department of Homeland Security who became a prominent Trump critic, alerting the public to allegations that he personally witnessed the president’s corruption and ineptitude.

    Trump’s order, which called on the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Taylor’s activities, also said Taylor “stoked dissension.” Just as notably, the president, who has repeatedly disclosed sensitive information, suggested that his critic had “disclosed sensitive information,” adding, “[T]his conduct could properly be characterized as treasonous.”

    Putting aside the obvious concern that such rhetoric is insane, it’s also worth emphasizing that “treason” is a word the president uses far too often, especially given that treason is a capital offense.

    But as important as these details are, let’s not miss the forest for the trees: A sitting American president signed executive orders seeking investigations into former officials, not because they did anything wrong, but because they defied him. This is simply not the sort of thing that’s supposed to happen in a stable and healthy democracy. Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming described Trump’s latest moves as “Stalinesque.”

    Indeed, if an investigative reporter had uncovered evidence that Trump had done this in private — quietly directing agencies to investigate critics without cause — it would be a front-page scandal. Trump, however, did it in public, practically bragging about his own abuse.

    But as Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut recently noted in an unrelated matter, “Just because the corruption plays out in public doesn’t mean it’s not corruption.”

  431. Reginald Selkirk says

    @416, 421 impeachment

    Yes, impeachment is done by the House. Of course Republicans have a majority in both the House and Senate, so there is not much point in grousing about what Democratic leaders will or will not do.

    @197 reported that Al Green will present articles of impeachment, but they are just not going to go anywhere until a sufficient number of Republican House members are willing to admit that Trump is a problem. Which won’t come unless/until they hear sufficiently from voters in their districts.

    And even then… if Trump were impeached and convicted, what happens? Hello, President Vance.

  432. Reginald Selkirk says

    Europol: Five pay-per-infect suspects cuffed, some spill secrets to cops

    Following the 2024 takedown of several major malware operations under Operation Endgame, law enforcement has continued its crackdown into 2025, detaining five individuals linked to the Smokeloader botnet.

    In the first update for Operation Endgame since September, international police coordinated by Europol said today that “several” suspects detained opted to cooperate during questioning.

    According to the agency, this cooperation involved allowing investigators to examine digital evidence stored on their personal devices. There was no mention of suspects providing information about other individuals involved…

    That database contained the details of Smokeloader customers, a backdoor-cum-malware dropper, operated by the individual known as Superstar, who charged users for access based on the number of installs on victim machines.

    Investigators were aware that Smokeloader was used by customers for various follow-on crimes, such as keylogging, webcam access, ransomware deployment, cryptomining and more.

    Officials said today that the malware’s customers faced various consequences ranging from “knock and talks,” full house searches, all the way to arrests…

  434. Reginald Selkirk says

    I Should Have Seen This Coming

    When I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left. The reactionary fringe has won.
    By David Brooks
    …

    I’m sorry, I can’t hear him over the sound of leopards eating his face. What ideas did conservatives care earnestly about in the 1980s? “Voodoo economics” ‽⸘‽

  435. JM says

    @422 birgerjohansson:

    (I have a feeling the Chinese are not going to back down anytime soon. Hello recession)

    The Chinese won’t want to back down but their economy was already in the dumps, being cut off from US markets could be a disaster for them. More likely they negotiate. The Chinese government is good at negotiating treaties that apparently open markets but don’t really make them open. The Chinese government is so tied into industry that they don’t need tariffs or other trade barriers. They have actual political officers at many companies telling the managers that they should show loyalty to China and not buy from outside companies.

  437. DrVanNostrand says

    @416
    I don’t know why you’re calling out Schiff specifically. When he was in the House, he voted to impeach Trump twice. I believe he even led the prosecution once. He obviously can’t do anything about impeachment now, but I can guarantee that if the House miraculously impeached him a 3rd time, he would be scathing in his questioning during the Senate trial, and would vote to convict.

  439. Reginald Selkirk says

    RFK Jr. Doesn’t Know About His Own Agency’s $11 Billion Health Cuts

    See no evil, hear no evil. In a recent interview, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., professed to not know anything about the Trump administration’s plans to strip away billions in funding from state and local health departments.

    RFK Jr.’s apparent ignorance was on display during his first network TV interview as HHS secretary, which aired Wednesday on CBS news. At one point, CBS News chief medical correspondent Jon LaPook asked Kennedy whether he had personally approved the federal government’s attempt to rescind $11 billion meant for health departments, to which Kennedy responded that he was “not familiar with those cuts.” It’s only the latest messaging flub for Kennedy, however.

    In late March, HHS sent letters to various health departments announcing that it would immediately terminate $11.4 billion in federal grants that were expected to last through September. The grants were allocated in response to the covid-19 pandemic, but were earmarked for a variety of public health initiatives, such as funding community mental health services, supporting substance use prevention and treatment programs, and shoring up efforts to prevent and respond to emerging infectious diseases.

    Over 20 states have filed a lawsuit against HHS and the federal government to prevent the funding reversal. Last week, a district judge agreed to temporarily block the funding stoppage until the court case is decided.

    All of this has happened under RFK Jr.’s term as the new HHS secretary, which began in mid-February, making his professed blindness to the cuts all the more baffling and suspicious.

    Indeed, right after saying that he wasn’t familiar with the rescinded funds, RFK seemed to change tack, arguing that the “cuts were mainly DEI cuts, which the president ordered.” HHS did previously announce a round of funding cuts last month that were ostensibly related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and so-called “gender ideology” research projects. But these projects only amounted to $350 million in funding, according to HHS at the time—far below the $11 billion in extra lost funding now being threatened…

  440. says

    Kathleen Sgamma was Trump’s choice to run the Bureau of Land Management. It’s worth appreciating why her nomination collapsed.

    Two months ago, when Donald Trump nominated Kathleen Sgamma, a professional advocate for the oil and gas industry, to run the Bureau of Land Management, no one was especially surprised. The Interior Department oversees drilling; the president wants more drilling; so it stood to reason that he’d turn to someone with extensive experience in drilling.

    What was surprising, however, was the sudden demise of her nomination. The Associated Press reported:

    […] Trump’s nominee to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land has withdrawn her nomination following revelations that she criticized the Republican president in 2021 for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The withdrawal of Kathleen Sgamma to lead the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management was announced Thursday at the start of Sgamma’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

    The timing of the developments reinforced how quickly her nomination collapsed: As Sgamma’s confirmation hearing was scheduled to begin, it fell to Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who chairs the relevant committee, to announce that the president’s former choice for the position had “withdrawn from consideration.”

    Sgamma issued a statement, which did not explain why she was withdrawing, and the White House did not offer an explanation except to say that the president would choose a new nominee.

    […] Two days ago, an investigative group uncovered a 2021 letter in which Sgamma wrote that she was “disgusted” by Jan. 6 violence and the president’s role in “spreading misinformation” about the Capitol attack. The letter was sent to Western Energy Alliance members on Jan. 7, 2021.

    Sgamma added at the time that she wished then-President-elect Joe Biden “the best of luck in his goal to return to normalcy and moderation,” […]

    Trump has demonstrated an ability to welcome into the fold former critics (see his vice president, for example), but Sgamma’s 2021 letter also acknowledged that Trump lost the 2020 race, which probably made her withdrawal inevitable.

    For those keeping score, this is the fifth personnel failure of the president’s second term. The first was the collapse of former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination. That was soon followed by Chad Chronister’s failed nomination to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, and former Rep. Dave Weldon’s failed nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. […]

  441. says

    The House GOP majority passed a ban on noncitizen voting, which (a) almost never happens; and (b) is already illegal.

    Exactly one year ago this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson made a pilgrimage of sorts to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Donald Trump’s ring and hold a joint press conference with the then-former president. It was not, however, a simple photo-op: The Republicans unveiled a proposal they appeared to be rather proud of.

    The GOP duo pitched legislation that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. The absurdity of watching two notorious election deniers pretend to be deeply concerned with the integrity of elections was a detail the political world was apparently supposed to overlook.

    Soon after, House Republicans followed through, introducing the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act” (or “SAVE Act”). As NBC News reported, that same bill has now passed the chamber.

    The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, would amend the National Voter Registration Act so that states would be required to obtain proof of citizenship in person from people who are registering to vote. It would also require states to establish a program to remove undocumented immigrants from existing voter rolls and would allow American citizens to sue election officials that don’t follow proof of citizenship requirements.

    The measure cleared the chamber on a 220-208 vote, with four Democrats — Reps. Ed Case of Hawaii; Henry Cuellar of Texas; Jared Golden of Maine; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington — voting with the majority. No GOP members opposed the bill.

    […] There are literally zero locations in the United States where noncitizens can vote in federal and/or state elections.

    GOP lawmakers have also argued that legislation is needed to curtail the scourge of noncitizens who are already voting. Except, Republicans have gone searching for evidence of this problem and found effectively nothing.

    The House speaker, while touting the SAVE Act last year, said Republicans “intuitively” know that “a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections,” which was a hilarious way for the Louisiana Republican to effectively say, “We have no evidence to bolster our beliefs.”

    […] the legislation would add new and entirely unnecessary hurdles for Americans who want to participate in their own country’s elections, forcing them, for example, to produce documents such as a passport or birth certificate to register to vote.

    […] “Voting rights groups have said married women who have changed their name could have trouble registering under the SAVE Act because their birth certificate lists their maiden name.”

    […] Johnson has also argued that an influx of immigrants is “one of their designs” that Democratic officials created “because they want to turn these people into voters.”

    That’s absurd for all sorts of reasons, including the yearslong process in which some of these immigrants might be able to become citizens, but it served as a reminder that the SAVE Act is, as a Washington Post analysis summarized, “the ‘great replacement’ theory … in legislation form.”

    […] The bill now heads to the Senate, where Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is championing a companion bill. The odds of the legislation overcoming a Democratic filibuster, however, are poor. […]

  442. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/irs-jackbooted-thugs-but-for-real

    ‘IRS Jackbooted Thugs’ But For Real This Time?

    The Internal Revenue Service will start sharing immigrants’ tax data with the Department of Homeland Security, in a deal reached this week, which is a huge departure from the IRS’s usual policy of keeping most tax filings confidential unless a court approves sharing them with law enforcement in a specific criminal investigation. The new agreement, signed Monday by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is more about allowing DHS to go fishing around in IRS records to find people who are in the USA without authorization.

    NPR reports that it’s not clear when DHS will start sifting through tax records, so we assume it already is. But don’t worry, the Trump administration says this will all be very cool and very legal, like every other abuse Team Trump has ever perpetrated.

    Under the terms of the deal, ICE officers can ask the IRS for information about immigrants who have final orders of removal or are under criminal investigation — including for the crime of failing to leave the country after 90 days.

    Oh, and also the operation is so super-secret that the Memorandum of Understanding is heavily redacted, “making it difficult to understand exactly what the IRS has agreed to share.” […]

    By complete coincidence we’re sure, (acting) IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause will be resigning just six weeks into her job, according to insiders who know things. That will make her the third head of the IRS to step down since Trump took office on January 20. [Giant red flag.]

    In addition, several other top IRS people, “including the agency’s chief financial, privacy and risk officers, are also planning to leave,” Politico reports. […]

    Before Krause said she’d be leaving, the IRS lost two other leaders: Joe Biden’s IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel resigned on Inauguration Day, with three years left in his term, and then his successor, (acting) Commissioner Doug O’Donnell, a veteran IRS official of four decades, retired because the place was being demolished by Trump and DOGE. So far, the job has been less stable than being a first-term Trump chief of staff or a drummer for Spın̈al Tap.

    [I snipped some “We wish Melanie well on her next endeavor” blather from the Trump administration.]

    […] until now, the IRS routinely assured undocumented taxpayers that their data would be kept private. The IRS has long allowed undocumented folks as well as many foreign nationals who are in the country legally to file using an “Individual Taxpayer Identification Number” (ITIN) instead of a Social Security number. (SSNs are only for citizens and permanent legal residents.)

    If you have better reading comprehension than a MAGA idiot on Twitter, you can see why simply scooping up everyone who files using an ITIN wouldn’t guarantee you’d only be arresting people here illegally, because you’d also be grabbing people working on temporary permits, or academics, or students, or other categories of folks here legally. Haha, not that the distinction will matter anymore.

    Now, there is at least an ironic bit of truth coming out from this whole ugly mess, which is that it shines a light on the fact that millions of undocumented immigrants have been paying billions of dollars of taxes — around $100 billion in income taxes annually. On top of that, they pay state and local taxes, plus additional billions every year, through withholding, into Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment, none of which undocumented taxpayers can ever make use of unless they attain legal status. They’re literally subsidizing Americans’ benefits, not leeching off the system.

    Trump, of course, sneers at the very idea that undocumented people are anything but a burden to America, because as we all know they take all the jobs but are simultaneously on welfare, which again they don’t qualify for. While campaigning for his first term, he asked, “Do you really believe they pay taxes?” Never mind the copious data showing that they do […]

    In conclusion, if you aren’t doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about from the merger of IRS and ICE, unless a DOGE algorithm says you have done something wrong and you end up with a hood over your head, the end.

  443. says

    AI as a thief:

    […] AI literally steals from human beings for the explicit purpose of putting human beings out of a job. Jobs like making music, making art, writing (because god forbid it be used to do work people don’t actually want to do) … and even product endorsements.

    Recently, Skaind — which is a skincare brand and not, in fact, a band that does ska covers of Staind songs as one would naturally assume — did just that. They made a whole ass fake podcast interview between influencer Arielle Lorre and podcaster Rich Roll in which Lorre talks about her skincare journey, appearing to credit the brand for her lovely skin.

    Except the thing is, neither of them ever met one another and neither of them have ever heard of Skaind. Or they hadn’t, until people started messaging them to tell them that they were in one of their ads.

    […] Lorre sent Skaind a message before having her attorneys send them a cease and desist, and somehow their apology just made it all the more creepy.

    “We wanted to apologize for the use of a video clip of you in our recent advertising campaign. We want to clarify that at no time was it our intention to use your image or voice without authorization,” they wrote. “Our marketing team accessed this content through an artificial intelligence platform without being aware that it was a recognized person or with image rights.” [Oh well that’s all right then. Nope. That’s even worse.]

    […] “In this over-two-minute-long video, they used a ton of b-roll video from my skincare videos, my various Tiktok and Instagram videos, they had a video of my boyfriend and I in there, so they very much knew that I’m a real person,” Lorre explained, adding that they took footage of her on her “own podcast and used that template to create the AI version of me.”

    Their apology, too, felt a bit off when they went ahead and blocked both her and Rolls after their lawyers sent them cease and desist letters. Just a little bit shady. Of course, a skincare brand that has to steal the faces of people who have never actually used their product in order to promote themselves is pretty shady to begin with.

    […] Meta pulled the ads featuring Tom Hanks and Gayle King after this went public, with a spokesperson telling The New York Times that it is “against our policies to run ads that use public figures in a deceptive nature in order to try to scam people out of money.”

    And yet! When Lorre asked them to pull the ad featuring her, she was told that it didn’t violate their community policy. So she’s not enough of a public figure for Meta to care but is known enough that Skaind says they wouldn’t have stolen her face if they knew she was a “recognized person.” […]

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/creepy-skincare-brand-stole-peoples

  444. says

    https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-declares-all-state-climate

    “Trump Declares All State Climate, Environment Laws Null And Void Because F*ck It Why Not”

    ” ‘States’ rights’ are just for segregation we guess.”

    While he was busily bringing back the entire dying coal industry through wishful thinking Tuesday [see comment 372], Donald Trump also issued an executive order aimed at rolling back state laws on climate, because he is the Boss of America […] Trump says “hereby” and then everyone must obey the new federal law he just shat out.

    […] Tuesday’s executive order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to prevent any state laws on climate from being enforced if the administration deems them “unconstitutional, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable.” In particular, the order calls on Bondi to block enforcement of state laws

    purporting to address “climate change” or involving “environmental, social, and governance” initiatives, “environmental justice,” carbon or “greenhouse gas” emissions, and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.

    The order singles out several allegedly “burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’ or energy policies that threaten American energy dominance,” such as New York’s Climate Superfund law which seeks to fund climate mitigation and adaptation in the state through fees on the climate-polluting companies that caused the mess in the first place. […] Trump also gripes at Vermont for a similar law, and wants Bondi to make those state laws go away.

    But here’s the thing. Both states’ “climate superfund” laws are already being challenged in the federal courts. New York is being sued by a coalition of Republican state attorneys general and fossil fuel industry groups, and the same goes for Vermont, which is being sued by the US Chamber of Commerce and by Big Oil’s lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute. There’s no reason for the federal government to interfere, and if Bondi does try to take action against states, they’re certain to sue to stop it.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the co-chairs of the United States Climate Alliance, a group of 24 states working to reduce emissions, said in a statement that “The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority.”

    […] Trump also wants to go after California’s cap-and-trade program [snipped details]

    Also, Trump wants Bondi to kill off states’ lawsuits against Big Oil, which allege — and oh mercy, the evidence is plentiful — that the oil companies’ own scientists knew for decades that burning fossil fuels causes global warming, but covered it up […]

    There again, the feds shouldn’t be able to interfere, since the cases are going forward in state courts, and would have to be decided by state judges […]The Supremes recently shot down an attempt by Republican state attorneys general to end five blue-state lawsuits against oil companies, though that decision mostly turned on the red states’ lack of standing to get all up in other states’ legal business.

    […] even if Trump doesn’t prevail in court, he might still seek to punish states for being mean to his Big Oil buddies, like withholding federal transportation money or maybe sending Elon Musk’s DOGE boys to let all the water out of their dams. That of course would trigger further lawsuits from the states.

    We have no idea where this will all end up. Trump has so far focused on trying to be absolute monarch of federal law, in defiance of Congress, so it remains to be seen how successful he’ll be at nullifying state laws.

  445. says

    South Sudan cholera patients died walking to clinic after US cut aid, charity says

    Eight people in South Sudan, including five children, died on a three-hour walk to seek medical treatment for cholera after U.S. aid cuts forced local health services to close, the UK-based charity Save the Children said on Wednesday.

    The deaths last month are among the first to be directly attributed to cuts imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump after entering office on January 20, which he said were to ensure grants were aligned with his “America First” agenda.

    “There should be global moral outrage that the decisions made by powerful people in other countries have led to child deaths in just a matter of weeks,” said Christopher Nyamandi, Save the Children’s country director in South Sudan.

    Experts have warned that the cuts – including the cancellation of more than 90% of USAID’s contracts – could cost millions of lives in the coming years due to malnutrition, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases. […]

  446. says

    […] “When you sit behind a screen all day, it makes you a woman. Studies have shown this,” Jesse Watters, who previously claimed that eating soup in public and using straws makes you a woman, explained to the gang at Fox’s “The Five” this week, adding, “And if you’re out working, like building robots like Harold, you are around other guys. You’re not around HR ladies and lawyers that give you estrogen.” [Nope, that is not satire. That is not the Onion. That is Jesse Watters on Fox News.]

    Well, that’s just science, isn’t it?

    This quote was a response to a particularly bad take from self-proclaimed “MAGA Lefty” Batya Ungar-Sargon, of Bari Weiss’s Free Press, who on Sunday told Fox News that she believes that moving manufacturing jobs overseas was one of the things that fueled the so-called current “masculinity crisis.” [video at the link]

    “We shipped jobs that gave men who work with their hands for a living, and rely on brawn and physicality, off to other countries to build up their middle class,” Ungar-Sargon told former “Real World” star Rachel Campos-Duffy. “We imported millions and millions of illegals to work in construction, manufacturing, landscaping, janitorial services — jobs that used to give men access to the American dream.”

    It seems worth noting here that both the construction and manufacturing industries are suffering from labor shortages, and have been for some time now. [graph at the link]

    […] This past November, the Heritage Foundation put out a “report” with the deeply creepy title “Education Policy Reforms Are Key Strategies for Increasing the Married Birth Rate.”

    The gist of it was that Republicans must push for public funding of religious education and encourage young people to get knocked up young instead of going to college and waiting until they are established in their careers and financially stable enough to afford children.

    No, really:

    Increasing access to private and religious education for those who want it though expanded school choice, removing excess credentialing barriers in fields such as teaching and for state jobs, and reducing federal higher education subsidies and loan cancellation that place the federal thumb on the scale in favor of spending years in postsecondary work of questionable value will help young Americans to start and expand their families.

    In short: “more religious education + less qualified teachers + making it harder to go to college = more babies.” This is probably true, since we can assume the children won’t learn much about condoms or birth control at those religious schools.

    […] Honestly you never actually expect them to say it, and then they say it.

    Basically, the MAGA Right is making it clear that they want people to work in factories instead of going to college, because they believe that this will give them an edge in the culture war.

    We’ve seen this before. Under Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia (which was called “Kampuchea” from 1975-’79), the Khmer Rouge pushed the idea that more educated people in the city had been corrupted, they claimed, by Western values, and the only way for the country to return to its “golden age” was for everyone to give that up immediately in favor of becoming poor farmers. Chairman Mao, too, forced people with college degrees in bourgeois jobs to relocate to rural areas in order to work as farmers. Authoritarian regimes have a tendency to idealize the past and to demonize education, for fairly obvious reasons.

    Now we have the Khmer L’Orange, with visions of Norman Rockwell paintings dancing in their heads, wanting to push Americans back into manufacturing, because they think that’s their best (and possibly only) chance to win the culture war.

    Link

  447. says

    Markets tumble again as reality of Trump’s tariffs sets in

    “Even with Trump’s 90-day pause on country-by-country duties, the effective average import tax is rising to 24%.”

    Related video at the link.

    The major U.S. stock indexes dropped sharply on Thursday, a stark reminder that […]Trump continues to pursue a tariff agenda capable of throwing the global economy into chaos.

    [Trump has] escalated tariffs on China and did not ease tariffs on Canada or Mexico, the largest U.S. trading partners. A revised analysis from the Budget Lab at Yale University found that consumers will still face an overall tariff rate of 25.3% — the highest since 1903.

    The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was hit hardest Thursday, dropping as much as 7.2%, while the S&P 500 at one point fell a total of 6.3% — not far off from the 7% level at which trading is paused for all U.S. stocks.

    The Nasdaq did recover a bit, but closed down 4.3%. The S&P 500 ended the day down about 3.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 1,000 points, or about 2.5%. […]

    The S&P 500 is now off about 14% from its February highs.

    […] “We do not see the scenario as being as encouraging as markets do,” analysts with Citi wrote in a note Thursday morning, adding there was no guarantee the negotiations Trump touted as he announced his pause would result in deals or actually lower tariffs.

    “We continue to expect growth to slow, inflation to rise and the Fed to return to rate cuts as soon as hard data confirm the slowdown,” the Citi analysts wrote. [graph at the link]

    Investors continue to price in stagflationary conditions — meaning faster price growth could come even as overall economic activity slows. […]

    […] While inflation from the tariffs may not be quite so severe as feared as a result of the pause, he said, the uncertainty “could slow the economy down because if everybody pulls back and they don’t spend and businesses don’t invest, the economy will slow. And in extreme cases, could even tip into a recession.”

    In an interview with Axios this week, Tom Barkin, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve, said the tariffs run the risk of both being inflationary and negative for unemployment,” creating a “hard box for policymakers.”

    Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said on X Thursday that he still puts the odds of a recession, or negative economic growth, for 2025 at 60%, in part because “it is clear that U.S. trade policy is being made up on the fly, it generates lots of drama and uncertainty, which is another heavy weight on the economy.” […]

  448. says

    House GOP Hardliners Cave, Unlocking Process To Make Sweeping Medicaid Cuts

    After two days of back and forth that involved House Republican leadership delaying a vote on the Senate-approved budget resolution, Republicans’ “one, big beautiful” budget blueprint passed the House in a 216-214 vote Thursday morning, unlocking the reconciliation process.

    Only two House Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN) — broke with their conference and voted against the blueprint, which they say does not go far enough in enacting the sweeping cuts they have been calling for and will actually increase the deficit.

    The rest of the more than a dozen hardliners who initially opposed the blueprint came on board after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) publicly promised early Thursday morning that Republicans will find ways to reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion during the reconciliation process.

    […] “Our ambition in the Senate is we are aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings. The speaker has talked about $1.5 trillion, we have a lot of United States senators who believe that is a minimum,” Thune added.

    Now congressional Republicans will begin the reconciliation process where they will have to finalize where those cuts will come from, while also aiming for an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts and other fiscal priorities for the Trump administration.

    […] House Democrats stood united against the Republican resolution during the Thursday vote.

    Democrats have been pushing back on the resolution and its outlined cuts to popular social safety net programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). They have also sounded the alarm on the “budget gimmick” Senate Republicans are indicating they will use to make portions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent. Democrats say the attempt to mess with the cost estimates to zero out the more than $5 trillion cost of extending those tax cuts will be detrimental to the country’s economy. [Duh.]

    […] [snipped Trump’s social media blather]

  451. says

    FFS.

    Nope, this is still not satire, not The Onion:

    […] Trump reignited his strange obsession with water, specifically water pressure, on Wednesday and the result is likely to cost consumers millions on their utility bills.

    Trump signed an executive order titled “Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure In Showerheads” which will repeal regulations put in place by the Biden administration limiting how much water can be used in showerheads.

    At a White House signing of the order Trump ranted, “I like to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair. I have to stand in the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. … It’s ridiculous.”

    A fact sheet sent out by the White House said Trump was going to end “the Obama-Biden war on water pressure and make America’s showers great again.”

    But there was no “war” on water pressure. An explainer from the Appliance Standards Awareness Project released last June explained that efficient showerheads cut water usage, helping the environment, and they saved families money on their utility bills.

    Consumer Reports examined the showerheads on the market in January and determined that despite Trump’s complaints to the contrary, modern showerheads are not affected by water flow.

    […] Manufacturers didn’t even want this. Trump reversed water pressure standards in his first administration over their objections.

    […] Trump is fixated to a disturbing degree on water pressure issues. He has gone on and on about the topic multiple times over the last five years, as the Guardian noted in 2019. [video at the link]

    “[…] You turn on the faucet—you don’t get any water. They take a shower, and water comes dripping out, it’s dripping out very quietly, dripping out,” Trump said.

    The next year, in 2020, he was back on it again. Appearing at a Whirlpool manufacturing plant in Ohio, Trump said, “You turn on the shower—if you’re like me, you can’t wash your beautiful hair properly.”

    […] the water crisis he keeps describing isn’t one that most Americans experience.

    Or perhaps Trump simply doesn’t know how water and water delivery systems work. […]

    What is clear about water was that the standards put in place by Biden were helping consumers and the environment, but now Trump’s water obsession has thrown out all of the common sense.

    Link

  452. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Re Lynna @449:

    Bloomberg News link. I don’t have access.

    On it.

    Bloomberg – Trump loses bid to end ‘Central Park Five’ defamation lawsuit

    The case is one of the last remaining legal fights that followed Trump back to the White House. Unlike the federal prosecutions, which were dropped by the US Justice Department in the fall, Trump’s reelection didn’t automatically end pending civil cases.
    […]
    Beetlestone did dismiss a claim accusing the president of intentionally causing emotional distress. […] The men, who were teenagers when they were arrested, filed a lawsuit last year in federal court in Philadelphia claiming that Trump defamed them by saying during a September debate that they had pleaded guilty when they hadn’t. Trump also made erroneous comments during the debate suggesting someone had been killed during the 1989 incident.
    […]
    The five men were found guilty at trial but those verdicts were overturned in 2002 after DNA evidence linked another person to the attack on the jogger. New York City later settled a civil lawsuit brought by the men for $41 million.

    Beetlestone also said that the men had raised a plausible claim that Trump spoke with “actual malice”—a legal term meaning that he made the statement even when knew it was false or recklessly disregarded the truth […] Trump’s lawyer conceded that his client was “closely familiar with plaintiffs’ not-guilty plea, conviction, and subsequent exoneration, such that he knows that plaintiffs did not plead guilty or hurt anyone.”

  453. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Follow-up to #406.

    Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket):

    “The DOGE team has neither requested nor been granted access to sensitive bank information.” We’ll see how long that remains true.

    Text of email shared with me: [Screenshot]
    […]
    DOGE staffers at FDIC are Brooks Morgan, Adam Ramada and Anthony Armstrong. All three were just added to the agency’s email system.

    Evan Weinberger (Bloomberg)

    let’s talk about what we mean when we say sensitive bank information, because it came up when DOGE descended upon the CFPB.

    The FDIC has sensitive examination materials for lots of community banks. But it also has deposit insurance submissions for every bank. And then there are the “living wills.” These are the resolution plans that the biggest banks submit every two years (your JPMorgan Chases, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs) that say how to unwind them if they fail.

    That would have lots of proprietary trading information and other strategies. When DOGE got into CFPB data, there was a lot of customer data, new product designs. Important stuff. The FDIC is at a whole different level.

  454. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Financial Times – DOGE fired self-drive experts at agency that regulates Tesla

    Of roughly 30 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration workers dismissed in February […] many were in the “office of vehicle automation safety”
    […]
    NHTSA, which has been a thorn in Tesla’s side for years, has eight active investigations into the company after receiving—and publishing—more than 10,000 complaints from members of the public. […] the agency, which has ordered dozens of Tesla recalls
    […]
    dismissals […] affected roughly 4 per cent of the agency’s 800 staff and included employees who had been promised promotions as well as newly hired workers […] Staff working on vehicle automation safety were disproportionately affected […] because the division was only formed in 2023 so comprised many newer hires still on probation.
    […]
    Musk has promised customers and investors that Tesla will launch a driverless ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas by June and start production of a fleet of autonomous “cybercabs” next year. To do so, Tesla needs an exemption from the NHTSA to operate a non-standard driverless vehicle on American roads because Musk’s cybercabs have neither pedals nor a steering wheel.

    “[…] sheer madness—we should be lobbying to add people to NHTSA,” said one manager at Tesla. They “need to be developing a national framework for AVs, otherwise Tesla doesn’t have a prayer for scale in FSD or robotaxis”.
    […]
    The agency has received an average of 20 [complaints about Tesla’s fully-self-driving system] per month

  455. says

    Washington Post link

    “How Palestinian first responders ended up in a mass grave in Gaza”

    “Israel says the emergency workers were fired on for moving “suspiciously.” Dispatcher records, witness testimony, and video and audio evidence offer a more disturbing narrative.”

    Video at the link.

    The 14 Palestinian emergency workers had been missing for a week when U.N. and civil defense personnel found them late last month in a mass grave of sand. Israeli soldiers had buried them, as well as the wreckage of their ambulances, videos showed. Their resting place, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah, was marked with one of their red emergency lights.

    The Israeli military says its soldiers had believed the men were Palestinian militants and had fired on them from a distance. Most of the vehicles were targeted, the military says, because they were deemed to be moving “suspiciously” in the direction of the troops. The burial of the bodies had adhered to protocol, the military said. [Lies]

    A Washington Post analysis of the events of that predawn morning, based on dispatcher records, witness testimony, video footage, satellite imagery and photographs of the dead, contradicts the official Israeli narrative in key regards. While the Israeli military said the soldiers shot from afar, gunfire was initially 150 feet away or less when they opened fire on the convoy of emergency vehicles and later was within about 50 feet, according to the estimates of two audio forensics experts who analyzed audio of the events at The Post’s request.

    While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the initial vehicle their soldiers fired on was a “Hamas police” car carrying terrorists, dispatcher records secured by The Post and interviews indicate that it was an ambulance that had been dispatched shortly before by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on an emergency call and carried a team of three paramedics who had 55 years of employment with the PRCS between them.

    The five other vehicles that later came under fire were clearly marked as belonging to the PRCS and the Palestinian civil defense. The paramedics who fled from their vehicles were mostly wearing fluorescent clothes marking them as emergency workers, video shows. While the Israeli military initially told reporters that the soldiers fired on the vehicles because they did not have their emergency flashing red lights on, video shows that they did.

    […] The first ambulance set out from the PRCS depot in Khirbat al-Adas, east of Rafah, around 3:50 a.m. March 23, responding to the reported bombing of a house in Tel al-Sultan, according to Nebal Farsakh, a PRCS spokeswoman. The crew recovered three bodies from that site and took them to Nasser Hospital, before returning to base at roughly 4:35 a.m.

    In the meantime, a second ambulance had also been dispatched from the British field hospital in northern Rafah to assist at the site of the Tel al-Sultan bombing. Before long, the first ambulance radioed to say that the incident was over, but there was no response from the second. Its paramedics — Munthar Abed, Mustafa Khafaj and Ezz El-Din Shaath — were no longer answering their phones, Farsakh said. Palestinian emergency workers began to fear the worst.

    […] the sole survivor of that second ambulance, later recounted in a telephone interview that his vehicle came under fire en route to Tel al-Sultan, bringing it to a halt. […]

    Abed, 27, who had worked with PRCS since 2015, said he had survived the shooting by lying on the floor of the ambulance until Israeli soldiers, carrying guns and wearing night-vision goggles, opened the door.

    “They dragged me out of the car, toward the sand,” he recalled. He said he was initially held in a pit across the road from the bullet-riddled ambulance, he said.

    Satellite imagery taken at 10:48 a.m. that day shows a deep pit on the west side of the road with dark pixelated marks inside. The Post shared the imagery with Abed, who confirmed that was the location of his detention. Satellite imagery experts said the marks were consistent with the possible presence of people. [Images at the link]

    Abed said that he was stripped and beaten, his hands were tied, and the soldiers asked about his family and whether he had participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. […]

    Describing the encounter, an Israeli military official told a briefing for international journalists that Israeli soldiers had opened fire at a “Hamas police” vehicle, killing “two terrorists” and detaining one.[…]

    At the dispatch center in Khirbat al-Adas, the first ambulance had returned safely, Farsakh said. It set out again around 4:50 a.m. with its crew — Salah Muamar, Raed al-Sharif and Ashraf Abu Labda — to locate their missing colleagues.

    Just three minutes later, the paramedics called to say they had found them, Farsakh said. They saw casualties on the ground and backup was urgently needed. Two more PRCS ambulances raced off to join them. Rifaat Radwan, a medic in one of those additional ambulances, recorded a 19-minute cellphone video capturing the conversations as they tried to make contact with the missing vehicle.

    “We’re calling their phones, and no one is answering,” he is heard saying off camera. […]

    None of the emergency vehicles dispatched early that morning had formally coordinated their movement with the Israeli military, which later said its troops had been surprised by the arrival of the vehicles. Under the coordination procedures followed by humanitarian groups in Gaza, the ambulance crews would not have needed to, aid officials said, because the area was not deemed a combat zone.

    The last of the Palestinian emergency vehicles to reach the site of the shooting that morning had arrived by 6 a.m., according to both the PRCS and the IDF. The military did not issue an official evacuation order for the area — their usual protocol for declaring a combat zone — on X until 8:31 a.m.

    […] The video shows that the vehicles were clearly marked and had their red flashing lights on. The existence of the video and the presence of the flashing lights were first reported by the New York Times
    .
    As the rescue teams approach the stranded ambulance, the paramedics see casualties on the ground, the video shows. “They’re lying there,” Radwan shouts. Several men in reflective vests can be seen running from their vehicles and toward the ambulance.

    Moments later, the shooting begins, and he steps out of the vehicle.

    Radwan’s video captures his screams of distress. After several minutes, the air falls quiet for a period, and his voice is softer — pleading now. “Mom, forgive me,” he keeps saying. “This is the path I chose, to help people.”
    Then the gunfire resumes. Shouts in Hebrew are briefly audible.

    Audio analysis of the recording suggests that those Israeli voices were about 100 feet from Radwan’s cellphone, indicating the troops were advancing, according to Rob Maher, an audio forensics expert at Montana State University.

    Radwan’s last panicked utterance before the recording ends was that the soldiers were “coming.” Radwan’s body was later found in the mass grave.

    The Israeli military official said that troops had opened fire because they believed an ambush was underway. “They opened fire against those people from afar. It’s not from close. They opened fire from afar,” he said.

    Two audio forensics experts who reviewed the video at the request of The Post said more than 100 gunshots are audible from multiple firearms for more than five minutes. Maher said his analysis found that at least one shooter was initially about 150 feet away, depending on the type of ammunition. By the end, he said, gunfire came from about 40 feet away.

    Steven Beck, an audio forensics expert who consulted for the FBI for more than a decade, estimated that at least two shooters were initially about 130 feet from the cellphone. Toward the end of the audio, he said, gunfire appeared to come from about 60, 50 and 40 feet away.

    Satellite imagery taken at 10:48 a.m. that morning and published by Al Jazeera shows 20 armored military vehicles within a half-mile radius, including a Merkava tank, armored personnel carriers, at least one IDF Caterpillar and other tracked engineering vehicles.

    Detained in the roadside pit, Abed recalled that he heard the sound of the approaching rescue vehicles and then gunfire.

    Later, Nassasra, one of the paramedics who had been in Radwan’s ambulance, was brought to the same pit, Abed recalled. The two men spoke briefly, he said. Radwan was dead, Nassasra said, according to Abed. So was Abu Labda, and fellow paramedics Mohammed al-Hila and Mohammed Bahloul, who had been in the fourth ambulance.

    But Muamar and his crewmate Raed al-Sharif were alive, though wounded, Nassasra reported. “He told me he saw them with his own eyes,” Abed said.

    The bodies of Muamar and Sharif were later recovered from the mass grave.

    Abed was released by Israeli soldiers hours after he was detained, he said. Nassasra remains missing.

    The grim exhumation of the 14 rescue workers, who were buried by Israeli soldiers, was captured in a video recorded by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) on March 30. The bodies are partially decomposed and caked in sand. A Palestinian U.N. worker was also among the dead there; the circumstances of his death were unclear.

    […] The rescue vehicles had been mangled and buried close to the corpses, the video shows. The remains of the civil defense force’s team leader, Anwar al-Attar, were found separate from the others, among the vehicles.

    The Israeli military official described the burial as adhering to protocol to avoid the bodies being eaten by dogs. He did not explain why the vehicles appeared to have been crushed and covered as well.

    […] The Israeli military official said that troops had determined that the occupants of the Palestinian vehicles were terrorists after opening fire.

    More details at the link.

  456. says

    Sky Captain @452, thank you for posting the info from the Bloomberg link.

    Followup to DrVanNostrand @450, here is an excerpt from the New York Times article:

    Since taking office, the Trump administration has moved aggressively to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants […]

    Now, the administration is taking drastic steps to pressure some of those immigrants and others who had legal status to “self-deport” by effectively canceling the Social Security numbers they had lawfully obtained, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with six people familiar with the plans.

    The goal is to cut those people off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits.

    The effort hinges on a surprising new tactic: repurposing Social Security’s “death master file,” which for years has been used to track dead people who should no longer receive benefits, to include the names of living people who the government believes should be treated as if they are dead. As a result of being added to the death database, they would be blacklisted from a coveted form of identification that allows them to make and more easily spend money.

    […] Their “financial lives,” Leland Dudek, the Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner, wrote in an email to staff members, would be “terminated.”

    […] On Tuesday, Aram Moghaddassi, a software engineer working for DOGE, sent Mr. Dudek the first batch of names to be added: a list of more than 6,300 immigrants homeland security officials had identified as having temporary legal status but who were now either on what he described as “the terrorist watch list,” or had been flagged as having “F.B.I. criminal records,” the documents show. The people’s parole status had been revoked that same day, Mr. Moghaddassi wrote.

    The list included a 13-year-old and seven other minors, raising fears inside the agency that it was overly broad, according to one person familiar with the list who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

    […] Although the agency has renamed the death list the “ineligible master file,” according to the documents reviewed by The Times, it has not developed a new way to mark people as being ineligible for benefits. For now the immigrants added are being given supposed dates of death, according to two people familiar with the process.

    […] Martin O’Malley, who served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration under Mr. Biden, described the strategy as inhumane.

    “It’s tantamount to financial murder,” Mr. O’Malley said.

    […] Those who have been put on the list mistakenly while still alive have reported calamitous effects, such as having their homes foreclosed and bank accounts canceled. In order to be removed, they have to go to field offices to try to prove their identity, a process known internally as “resurrection.” But even then the problem can take months to fix, or longer. […]

  457. Reginald Selkirk says

    @451

    Trump signed an executive order titled “Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure In Showerheads” which will repeal regulations put in place by the Biden administration limiting how much water can be used in showerheads.

    Pressure and flow rate are different things.

  459. says

    NBC News:

    The major U.S. stock indexes dropped sharply on Thursday, a stark reminder that President Donald Trump continues to pursue a tariff agenda capable of throwing the global economy into chaos.

  460. Reginald Selkirk says

    The penguins are fighting back.

    Unsecured penguin caused helicopter crash in South Africa

    An “unsecured” penguin in a cardboard box was the cause of a helicopter crash in South Africa, a report into the incident has found.

    The penguin, which had been placed in the box and on the lap of a passenger, slid off and knocked the pilot’s controls just after take-off from Bird Island off the Eastern Cape on 19 January.

    The South African Civil Aviation Authority said the impact sent the helicopter crashing to the ground. No-one on board, including the penguin, was hurt…

  461. says

    Associated Press:

    The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is stepping down from her post after nearly three years in Kyiv amid uncertainty over the Trump administration’s attempts to broker a peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The State Department said Thursday that Bridget Brink will be leaving her post in the near future, although it was not immediately clear exactly when she would depart.

  462. says

    Associated Press:

    The nearly 2,700-mile Keystone oil pipeline was shut down Tuesday morning after it ruptured in North Dakota, halting the flow of millions of gallons of crude oil from Canada to refineries in the U.S. and potentially leading to higher gasoline prices.

  463. Reginald Selkirk says

    @ measles

    Ontario measles case count tops 800, 155 new infections since last week

    Ontario is reporting 155 new measles cases over the last week, pushing the province’s case count to 816 since an outbreak began in the fall.

    The number of new cases has increased again after a few weeks of appearing to stabilize in the 100-per-week range, which public health physicians had taken as a sign of potential optimism.

    Public Health Ontario says there have now been 61 hospitalizations — that’s 11 more than last week — including 47 children. Unimmunized kids are the predominant group infected by the outbreak…

  464. says

    New York Times:

    The Justice Department on Wednesday barred its lawyers from attending any American Bar Association events, escalating the Trump administration’s battle with the legal profession […]

  465. Reginald Selkirk says

    Pete Hoekstra confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Canada

    The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Pete Hoekstra, a former ambassador to the Netherlands, to be ambassador to Canada, a position he assumes as traditional close ties have been strained by President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and comments about annexation.

    The vote was 60 to 37 in favour of confirming Hoekstra, with support from several Democrats as well as Trump’s fellow Republicans for a nominee who has also been a business executive and Republican member of the House of Representatives…

  466. johnson catman says

    re Lynna @451: Just what kind of synthetic shit is Orange Hitler’s hair made of that it takes 15 minutes for it to get wet?

  467. says

    Trump targets law firm that made Fox News pay for 2020 election lies

    Donald Trump is targeting the law firm that represented Dominion Voting Systems, the voting services company that sued Fox News for airing lies about the 2020 election—and won a $787 million settlement.

    [Trump] signed an executive order on Wednesday accusing Susman Godfrey LLP of spearheading “efforts to weaponize the American legal system and degrade the quality of American elections.” The order claimed the firm “funds groups that engage in dangerous efforts to undermine the effectiveness of the United States military” and supports racial discrimination.

    Trump offered no evidence of his allegations and complained that the firm offers scholarships and job opportunities to students of color. [!]

    The order instructs the federal government to suspend the firm’s security clearances and to cut off any government business that may be underway with the group.

    “Anyone who knows Susman Godfrey knows we believe in the rule of law, and we take seriously our duty to uphold it. This principle guides us now,” the law firm said in a statement. “There is no question that we will fight this unconstitutional order.” [Good. It sounds like the law firm intends to contest Trump’s order.]

    […] In the case of Susman, the connection to Fox News and the “Big Lie” about the 2020 election being stolen from Trump is front and center. […]

  470. Reginald Selkirk says

    US Justice Dept bars its attorneys from participating in American Bar Association events

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday barred its attorneys from traveling to or speaking at American Bar Association events, in the latest salvo by President Donald Trump’s administration against the nation’s largest voluntary lawyer group.

    U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a memo seen by Reuters said the ABA had been engaging in “activist causes” contrary to the department’s mission, including by suing to block Trump from cutting funding to foreign aid organizations.

    “The Department is actively litigating against the ABA, yet the Department continues to expend taxpayer dollars on ABA events,” Blanche wrote.

    He said while the ABA is free to “litigate in support of activist causes,” he did not want the department to participate in events in their official capacities that might undermine its mission to remain “fair, effective and even-handed.” …

  471. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    CNN – Tulsi Gabbard declared her residency in Texas. Then she voted in Hawaii

    Under Hawaii voting regulations, when voters have a homeowner’s tax exemption, that home is presumed to be their residence for election purposes.

    Gabbard’s attorneys said she applied for a homestead tax exemption, which Texas law only allows on a principal residence, because she “took the advice of local officials” who told her it was required to shield her address from public view. Her office said she was facing a significant security threat. […] did not respond to questions about why she separately swore under oath that she was a Texas resident if she considered herself to still live in Hawaii
    […]
    Sean Bukowski, a real estate lawyer in Texas, said […] “It is supposed to be your main homestead—that’s the whole point,”

    Roger Sollenberger (Daily Beast)

    Ah okay so it’s legally okay to falsely claim and receive a homestead exemption tax break as long as you’re doing it to hide your address in county records. […] What’s really wild […] is that you can still see Tulsi’s address in the Travis County clerk’s real property records search

    Roger Sollenberger

    This is a VA guaranteed loan, which her sister executed March 2024 with [power of attorney] granted for that purpose a week prior. [Screenshots] VA loans are for a primary residence—which Tulsi said it would be on her mortgage. Did Tulsi defraud the VA? Or did she vote illegally?

    Kel McClanahan: “I always love it when an explanation for one crime includes an admission to another crime.”

  472. Reginald Selkirk says

    2025 National Convention General Information

    The Freedom From Religion Foundation invites you to celebrate its 48th annual convention and its “Forward!” theme Oct. 17-19 in a unique setting: an oceanfront retreat at the Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort, 10000 Beach Club Dr., Myrtle Beach, S.C. After delighting in FFRF’s line-up of inspiring and informative speakers, you can fully enjoy the fine beaches, an indoor pool, a boardwalk and nearby attractions.

    Our trump card, so to speak, will be author and honoree Mary L. Trump, a sharp critic of the current administration who will be receiving FFRF’s Emperor Has No Clothes Award, reserved for public figures who make known their dissent from religion. Trump will be joined by other honorees, including:…

  473. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Bondi punished a natsec chief after seeing a Biden portrait.

    Just weeks after Devin DeBacker—a former assoc WH counsel from Trump’s 1st term—had been elevated to acting chief of the national security division (with expectation of becoming permanent), AG Pam Bondi walked in—about a week after her first day (Feb 5)—and saw a Biden portrait hanging in the office. In her retelling, an unnamed someone told her maintenance was really slow. She personally took it down and demoted DeBacker hours later.

    Chris Geidner: “Great way to run… *checks notes* the National Security Division?!”

    * Bondi was the one who demands that DoJ attorneys “zealously advocate”.
     
    * Portraits have been a tradition since the Civil War, but there’s no requirement. GSA happens to do that in buildings it leases to feds. In the past, GSA has taken down portraits on inauguration day, and put up new ones as they become available.

  476. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    CBS – CDC’s cruise ship inspectors laid off amid bad year for outbreaks

    The steep cuts to the program’s inspectors baffled CDC officials since the small team’s staff is not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Fees from cruise ships companies pay for the program, which is supposed to inspect large vessels at least twice a year.
    […]
    The cuts come as the U.S. has been battling a record surge of norovirus, largely driven by a new strain of the virus.

    Rando: “I have worked on cruise ships. I cannot even begin to tell you how quickly disease roars through a cruise ship.”

  477. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Martin Austermuhle (Reporter):

    House of Representatives is done […] until Apr. 28. No action was taken to address the $1.1 billion hole that it blew in [D.C.’s] local budget […] The timing is still up in the air, and all I’ve gotten from the Bowser administration is that they’re preparing a number of options to make necessary cuts.
    […]
    It’s wild when you think about it: D.C. had a balanced budget, the House went ahead and unbalanced it to the tune of $1.1 billion, the Senate fixed it, the House sat on the fix, and now D.C. may have to make cuts to programs and staff to address a problem not of its own making.

    Congress regularly breaks its own budgets, and so it seems they got bored and decided to break D.C.’s also.

  478. StevoR says

    @ 135 ; chigau (違う) “StevoR – A number of countries close to Russia are pulling out of the landmine treaty.”

    Ah. Thanks. Belated but sincere.

    @#287 JM , #288. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain & #289 whheydt : Thanks to you all as well. Belated but appreciated. Bene busyt and just had time now to read through a bit more and see.

  479. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Space Force commander in Greenland sent email breaking with Vance after his visit

    Col. Susan Meyers, [who] oversees the Pentagon’s northernmost military base, sent a March 31 message to all personnel at Pituffik seemingly aimed at generating unity among the airmen and Guardians, as well as the Canadians, Danes and Greenlanders who work there

    “I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,” Meyers wrote […] “I commit that, for as long as I am lucky enough to lead this base, all of our flags will fly proudly—together,”

    Space Force

    Colonel Susannah Meyers, commander of Pituffik Space Base was removed from command […] for loss of confidence in her ability to lead. Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan

  481. KG says

    The Chinese won’t want to back down but their economy was already in the dumps, being cut off from US markets could be a disaster for them. – JM@435

    China’s economy grew by 5% last year. Admittedly that’s down on the spectacular growth rates in the pre-pandemic era, but it’s a lot more than any of the G7. I’ve recently heard (can’t recall exactly where) that exports to the USA account for 2% of China’s GDP. They have plenty of other export markets. Certainly China has economic problems (and the USA doesn’t?), and they may well negotiate, but it will be from a position of strength.

  482. KG says

    Musk, who is notably not at the cabinet meeting today, produces a lot of Teslas in Shanghai. China. – rorschach@423

    Trump has already said there may be exemptions from his China tariffs for businesses that would be particularly hard hit. Who could he possibly be referring to?

  483. John Morales says

    KG, not really. Demographic collapse is China’s real problem, and GDP is basically the churn in activity.

    Their entire economy is set up to take imports, add value, and export those, which means their imports are bulkier than their exports. In short, China is a net importer, and relies on exports.

    In passing, one thing most pundits don’t mention is that those Trumpish Tariffs are only reliant on goods, but of course both goods and services are traded.

    e.g. https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/china-limit-number-american-films-imported-us-amid/story

  485. KG says

    John Morales@483,

    The UN’s medium variant scenario shows China’s population declining from its current 1.4 billion to just over 1 billion by 2100. Most of that 1 billion will not yet have been born. So that’s a considerable decline, but “demographic collapse”? Not in the near term, at any rate. As for its exports, the USA accounts for some 15% of the total. Again, considerable, but given China’s ability to produce goods in wide demand at low prices (and taking into account the exemptions we can confidently expect for Trump’s cronies), essential? However, I admit that since wikipedia says exports as a whole account for nearly 20% of China’s GDP, exports to the USA would be more like 3% of GDP than the 2% I quoted earlier.

  486. KG says

    Sorry, I failed to close a link@485, but all three URLs I intended to link to are accessible if you click at the right point!

  487. John Morales says

    Aftereffects of the one-child policy.
    The pyramid is kinda… more of an obelisk. To be kind.

    ref: https://www.populationpyramid.net/china/2024/

    Too many oldsters, not enough youngies.

    That’s why the population is declining, long term.
    Short-term, many more oldsters relying on many fewer youngsters to keep them going.

    —

    Anyway. At least they have Xi and not Trump. Right? ;)

  489. Reginald Selkirk says

    Researcher uncovers dozens of sketchy Chrome extensions with 4 million installs

    Google is hosting dozens of extensions in its Chrome Web Store that perform suspicious actions on the more than 4 million devices that have installed it and that the developer has taken pains to carefully conceal.

    The extensions, which so far number at least 35, use the same code patterns, connect to some of the same servers, and require the same list of sensitive systems permissions, including the ability to interact with web traffic on all URLs visited, access cookies, manage browser tabs, and execute scripts. In more detail, the permissions are:
    …
    One example is the extension Fire Shield Extension Protection, which ironically enough purports to check Chrome installations for the presence of any suspicious or malicious extensions. One of the key JavaScript files it runs references several questionable domains, where they can upload data and download instructions and code:
    …
    The full list of extensions are:

    Choose Your Chrome Tools
    Fire Shield Chrome Safety
    Safe Search for Chrome
    Fire Shield Extension Protection
    Browser Checkup for Chrome by Doctor
    Protecto for Chrome
    Unbiased Search by Protecto
    Securify Your Browser
    Web Privacy Assistant
    Securify Kid Protection
    Bing Search by Securify
    Browse Securely for Chrome
    Better Browse by SecurySearch
    Check My Permissions for Chrome
    Website Safety for Chrome
    MultiSearch for Chrome
    Global search for Chrome
    Map Search for Chrome
    Watch Tower Overview
    Incognito Shield for Chrome
    In Site Search for Chrome
    Privacy Guard for Chrome
    Yahoo Search by Ghost
    Private Search for Chrome
    Total Safety for Chrome
    Data Shield for Chrome
    Browser WatchDog for Chrome
    Incognito Search for Chrome
    Web Results for Chrome
    Cuponomia – Coupon and Cashback
    Securify for Chrome
    Securify Advanced Web Protection
    News Search for Chrome
    SecuryBrowse for Chrome
    Browse Securely for Chrome
    …

  491. KG says

    John Morales@487,
    If that demographic “pyramid” is correct, the really sharp contraction in births has been in the last 5 years. The pandemic would have had some effect, but the diagram suggests not much more than half the number of births as in the preceding five years. Is that sharp a decline really credible?

    rorschach@488,
    That article concerns Tesla sales in China. China is now producing electric cars that are both better and cheaper, so sales may very well have slumped there. The effect of the American tariffs on Tesla would be on the import of parts and of finished cars from China. So I’m sure Musk will be telling Trump to grant him an exemption.

  492. rorschach says

    “So I’m sure Musk will be telling Trump to grant him an exemption.”

    I’m getting the feeling that since that botched Wisconsin AG campaign, Musk has fallen out of favor big time. But who knows with these people.

  493. KG says

    rorschach@492,
    Lawrence O’Donnell thinks it was Musk told Trump to “suspend” his most absurd tariffs (or he wouldn’t be getting any more money). But as you say, hard to tell.

  494. JM says

    @481 KG: China’s official GDP figures are not particularly trustworthy. China’s GDP figures come very close to the target numbers set at the start of the year and they are always good. In 2020 Covid wrecked markets around the world and China dropped a housing market collapse on top of that but their published GDP still showed growth.
    China’s economy has been dealing with the housing crisis for years, they have been dealing with deflation and even the government admits unemployment is a problem. The government has been trying to export their way out of the country’s economic problems but it has not worked as well as hoped. A big tariff war is the last thing they need right now.

  495. rorschach says

    @494,
    “China’s official GDP figures are not particularly trustworthy.”

    In 2018 or 19, I was at a weekend seminar with Anton Kreil in Singapore, and he said the same thing, China numbers are just not trustworthy at all.

  496. Reginald Selkirk says

    @493

    Lawrence O’Donnell thinks it was Musk told Trump to “suspend” his most absurd tariffs …

    I presume a lot of people were telling him that.

  497. says

    https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

    Truth or Trump?: Administration lawyers face impossible task trying to defend Trump without lying
    Video is 4:01 minutes

    ‘Absurd and shameful executive orders’: Eric Holder calls on law firms to unify against Trump
    Video is 5:43 minutes

    ‘The time is now to stand up!’: Eric Holder sounds alarm on Trump’s war on the rule of law
    Video is 9:36 minutes

  498. Reginald Selkirk says

    Despite Warnings, Minecraft Moviegoers Are Now Bringing Actual Chickens to Theaters

    Just when you thought it was safe to watch A Minecraft Movie after cinemas issued new rules cautioning audiences against being disruptive in the name of social media trends, the Chicken Jockey phenomenon has taken a distressing new turn.

    A post on X from Discussing Film shared a video (that has of course gone viral) where someone brought an actual chicken to a Minecraft screening. Not only are young fans raining popcorn and junk all over auditoriums to celebrate the hit video game adaptation, now they’re bringing casual animal cruelty into it…

  499. KG says

    JM@494,
    Reasonable points. But Xi’s swift retaliation indicates that one thing he’d risk a trade war with the USA to avoid is appearing to be bullied by Trump.

  500. says

    https://www.msnbc.com/all chris Hayes

    ‘Who voted for this?’: Trump guts funding for kids history contest
    Video is 3:48 minutes

    ‘Get them back’: Crockett reacts to SCOTUS ordering return of wrongly deported man
    Video is 5:49 minutes

    Supreme Court unanimously rules against Trump, orders return of mistakenly deported man
    Video is 8:09 minutes This is Chris Haye’s A block

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