Hayes: Who is calling the shots for a napping President Trump?
“It’s hard to believe that this is the person who’s actually running the country minute to minute, leaving us to wonder who’s filling the power vacuum of the napping president,” says Chris Hayes.
Video is 8:34 minutes
The video also covers Trump’s egregiously racist comments about Somalia.
Trump DOJ set to seek to re-indict Letitia James on Thursday.
New reporting from Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian says federal prosecutors are scheduled to seek to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James Thursday. Sen. Chris Murphy reacts.
MOGADISHU (The Borowitz Report)—A new poll released on Thursday reveals that a broad majority of Somalis have “no interest” in immigrating to a country led by what they termed a “shithole president.”
Though 78 percent of Somalis called current conditions in the US “just too violent,” the nation’s so-called shithole president drew their harshest criticism.
In the words of one Somali, “When I travel abroad from Somalia, I’m not embarrassed when people ask me where I’m from.”
Another remarked, “In Somalia, they would never let an alcoholic run the armed services.”
Yet another said, “Look, Somalia isn’t perfect, but at least we have a leader who can stay awake.”
“Trump has a habit of using the word “exonerated” in ways that suggest he doesn’t know what it means. He is not alone.”
Related video at the link.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was already in a politically precarious position. The controversy surrounding his handling of the administration’s deadly boat strikes in international waters has sparked calls for his resignation, and even several congressional Republicans have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the former Fox News host’s management at the Pentagon.
And then things took a turn for the worse on Wednesday, when the Pentagon inspector general’s office released its findings in the investigation into the Signal chat scandal. […]
According to a source who read the report, which was shared with the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the acting Inspector General for the Department of Defense found Hegseth ‘violated policy by using a non-approved device,’ contradicting the secretary’s claims that he did nothing wrong.
[…] the report concluded Hegseth shared classified information, failed to preserve records and put military operations and servicemembers at risk when he communicated in the Signal chat with 19 people.
[…] By now, the basic elements of the “Signalgate” controversy are probably familiar: Top members of Donald Trump’s national security team participated in an unsecured group chat to discuss sensitive details of a military operation. They also accidentally included a journalist, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, in their online conversation.
The final paragraph of Goldberg’s piece on the fiasco 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” meaning “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 or classified intelligence — had locked everything down and created a secure channel of communication. [Ignorance or stupidity made manifest]
[…] there’s no denying it included highly sensitive information about times and targets, much of which was put there by Hegseth himself.
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package),” Hegseth told his colleagues. “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.”
This led to an investigation, […] Hegseth […] would not turn over his phone for the probe.
As the public learned of the IG’s findings, Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said of the report, “The Inspector General review is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth.” The Pentagon chief himself added that the investigation was a “total exoneration.” [Delusion. Lies. Gaslighting the public.]
[…] This isn’t a close call: The manifestly unqualified Hegseth was already juggling several scandals. Now an investigation from his own department has concluded that he shared classified information, failed to preserve records and put military operations and American service members at risk.
[…] That Hegseth isn’t walking out of the Pentagon with his belongings in a cardboard box right now is itself an indictment of the administration and of members of Congress responsible for its oversight.
“The arrest is the first known break in a five-year manhunt that has fueled intense speculation and conspiracy theories.”
A man has been arrested in the Jan. 6, 2021, pipe bomb case, and is expected to appear in court later Thursday […]
No arrests had previously been reported in connection with pipe bombs discovered outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican National Committees on the same day as the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
The bombs, which the FBI has described as “viable” but did not detonate, were believed to be planted the day before. […]
The federal agency responsible for supporting the nation’s libraries and museums has reinstated all grants terminated by President Donald Trump, complying with a federal court ruling that found the executive order mandating the cuts to have been unlawful.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the only federal agency responsible for funding libraries. This year, the White House ordered it to scale down to a “minimum presence,” forcing it to slash its spending by millions.
But in a November ruling, the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island found that the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the IMLS was unlawful.
[…] The Trump administration had gutted the Institute of Museum and Library Services in March, ordering the agency to dismantle as much of itself as possible. In response, staff at the agency were placed on administrative leave.
[…] In April, the attorneys general of 21 states filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of Trump’s executive order dismantling the agency, along with several others. In his ruling last month, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell found that the administration’s efforts to diminish the agencies had been “arbitrary and capricious” and that the president did not have the unilateral authority to refuse to spend congressionally appropriated funds. […]
Wall Street Journal: “For First Time in Decades, Child Deaths Will Rise This Year”
“Almost a quarter of a million more children are projected to die in 2025 than in 2024”
One of the greatest public-health achievements of recent decades has been driving down child mortality around the world. Now, that long-running decline is reversing.
The number of deaths of children under 5 years old is projected to rise this year for the first time in decades, the Gates Foundation […] said in a report Thursday. […]
Commentary from Talking Points Memo:
President Trump’s unlawful dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development has contributed to the first rise in global child mortality since at least 1990, according to a new report from the Gates Foundation. Nearly a quarter of a million more children under 5 are projected to die worldwide in 2025 than in 2024.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Thursday called a federal vaccine advisory committee “totally discredited” ahead of a vote on whether to change hepatitis B vaccine guidelines […]
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is scheduled to vote on a recommendation to no longer advise birth doses of the hepatitis B vaccine for mothers who are negative for the virus or don’t know their status, instead recommending an “individual-based decision-making” approach.
Cassidy, who worked as a liver specialist in Louisiana for many years, has long supported the use of the hepatitis B vaccine. When ACIP originally considered changing the guidance in September, Cassidy spoke out forcefully against proposed alterations, saying Americans should not have confidence in revised guidance.
[…] “Aaron Siri is a trial attorney who makes his living suing vaccine manufacturers. He is presenting as if an expert on childhood vaccines. The ACIP is totally discredited. They are not protecting children,” wrote Cassidy.
[…] Siri has been part of several lawsuits challenging vaccine requirements across the country. He also worked on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s failed presidential bid in 2024. Last year, he requested that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoke approval of the polio vaccine, drawing the ire of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor.
[…] a delay in hepatitis B immunization could lead to thousands of preventable infections and millions in added health care costs.
[…] here are a bunch of updates on how Minneapolis is responding to Donald Trump sending his ICE terrorists into Minneapolis to prey upon Somali immigrants. For instance, the PD is refusing to cooperate with [ICE]. [Good news]
Related, the terrorists have arrived in New Orleans. [Bad news] […]
“Trump expected to receive Fifa’s new peace award”
Robbie Williams, Andrea Bocelli and the Village People are to perform as part of a “world-class entertainment line-up” during Friday’s draw for the 2026 men’s football World Cup. The draw for next year’s tournament will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, with model and TV personality Heidi Klum, comedian Kevin Hart and actor Danny Ramirez co-hosting the event.
The Village People will perform YMCA to cap off an event that promises have distinctly Trumpian overtones. The disco hit became a staple at Donald Trump’s campaign rallies and Mar-a-Lago fundraisers.
[…] The tournament takes place in the US, Canada and Mexico next summer, running from 11 June to 19 July in 16 cities.
Adding another layer of Trump connection, Fifa also plans to unveil its new “Peace Prize – Football Unites the World” during the event. The award is widely expected to go to Trump after his calls to receive a Nobel Peace Prize this year. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, attended Trump’s inauguration in January […]
Expanded to 48 teams and 104 matches, the World Cup will span venues from Mexico City to Vancouver and from New York to Los Angeles, with the bulk of games staged in the US as Fifa looks to tap into the world’s biggest sports market.
Trump overhauled the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in February, becoming chair of the organisation and firing its president, Deborah Rutter.
“The shooting of two National Guard members has prompted the Trump administration to crack down on Afghans who entered the U.S. after assisting American forces during the war.”
In the days and months after the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, Thomas Kasza and some of his fellow U.S. Army Special Forces members focused their attention on the Afghans who had fought alongside them.
These Afghans who risked their lives for the U.S. were prime targets of the Taliban. Remaining in their homeland was akin to a death sentence.
“Given how they served exclusively alongside U.S. Green Berets, they were by default among those highest on Taliban target lists,” said Kasza, who was one of many military veterans who assisted their former Afghan counterparts in leaving the country and resettling in the U.S.
After the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House last week, Kasza and other U.S. war veterans find themselves having to come to the defense of their former Afghan partners yet again. […]
“It is definitely not fair to group all Afghans that helped us during our time in Afghanistan in that same basket as this individual,” said Ben Hoffman, a Green Beret with five deployments to Afghanistan.
Another Green Beret, Dave Elliott, said many of the Afghans he is in touch with are now “terrified” over their fates in the U.S.
“They’re fearful they’re going to be sent back to a country where we have had documented cases of our guys being killed in retribution attacks,” said Elliott […]
The Green Berets worked with a specially trained unit of Afghans who would go out in front of the Americans on missions to identify and disable improvised explosive devices, a highly dangerous job that resulted in dozens’ being killed. Other Afghans who came to this country after their government collapsed in 2021 worked with U.S. forces as interpreters and drivers and in other roles.
“These guys didn’t want to leave Afghanistan,” Elliott said. “They left Afghanistan because the U.S. broke it and handed it back to the Taliban and they had no other choice.”
[…] Even before the shooting and the Trump administration actions, many Afghans who settled in this country were already struggling to find jobs while trapped in a legal limbo without work permits.
[…] many of the Afghans experienced several years of war and are now living in an unfamiliar country where they don’t have access to the mental health resources afforded to U.S. military veterans.
“A lot of these guys have a lot of the PTSD struggles that we do, and even way worse,” Hoffman said. “And there’s no way for them to get help except out of pocket [Lack of resources !]
[…] “Some of these guys were in combat 365 days a year, for five or 10 or 20 years,” she [Geeta Bakshi, a former CIA officer who served in Afghanistan] added. “They face many of the same difficulties as veterans do, and they don’t have the resources and the support that veterans do.”
[…] “Green Berets are built to operate with and through a host-nation partner,” he said. “If the future partner of a Special Forces detachment sees America so willing to renege on promises made, how likely is it that they will be willing to put their lives on the line to aid in advancing the interest of another nation that will readily ignore their sacrifice?”
In Georgia this week, Democrat Mary Robichaux won the mayoral race in Roswell, defeating incumbent Republican Mayor Kurt Wilson, who enjoyed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s backing.
More campaign news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
[…] this might seem difficult to believe, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a notorious conspiracy theorist, filed the paperwork this week to run for governor in Minnesota in 2026. If he moves forward with his candidacy, Lindell would run as a Republican.
The New York Times and its veteran intelligence reporter, Julian E. Barnes, filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon on Thursday, accusing the Defense Department of trampling on reporters’ First Amendment rights through a sweeping new set of reporting restrictions.
Those rules—implemented in October—bar journalists from gathering or publishing any information that the government hasn’t explicitly cleared, including declassified documents and off-the-record conversations. […] Reporters who refused to sign were warned that their access would be suspended.
Many walked. According to the Times, six of its journalists handed in their Pentagon badges, joining dozens from across major newsrooms who also refused to agree to the terms.
The Times’ complaint is the first major legal challenge to the policy, seeking not only to block the restrictions but to restore the press passes of reporters now covering the world’s largest military bureaucracy from the outside. In the meantime, what’s left of the on-site Pentagon press corps is dominated by far-right outlets […]
In its filing, the Times calls the Pentagon’s rules “exactly the type of speech- and press-restrictive scheme that the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have recognized violates the First Amendment.” The lawsuit argues the policy “seeks to restrict journalists’ ability to do what journalists have always done—ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories [to] the public beyond official pronouncements.”
A broad array of outlets declined to sign the agreement: The Guardian, The Washington Post, the Atlantic, CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press, NPR, HuffPost, and Breaking Defense, among them. Even Fox News and Newsmax—typically friendly to Republican administrations—balked.
The Times is asking a federal judge in Washington to halt the rules. […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin challenged heavy U.S. pressure on India not to buy Russian fuel if the U.S. could do so as he began a two-day state visit, where he was embraced on arrival by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Putin spoke in comments to Indian broadcaster India Today, aired hours after landing in New Delhi for a visit during which both countries are seeking to boost mutual trade and expand the variety of items in transactions.
Putin is playing to the Indian crowd by talking about oil. India, like China, has little native oil so they have to buy it someplace.
India wants to buy raw resources from the resource rich Russia. They have basic goods and electronics that would sell well in Russia. They are not as willing as China to anger the entire west and/or lie about their trade. They don’t care much about what is happening in Ukraine though, their concern is the complex relations between India/Russia/China.
Russia’s major goal is convincing India to buy more oil and other resources just to get money. Putin would love to buy what they can from India. Mostly electronics because India isn’t willing to sell Russia arms and ammunition directly. As a secondary point, getting Putin out of Russia and back on the international stage works in Russia’s favor also.
It’s a complex situation but they are pretty sure to come to some sort of deals. Putin wouldn’t have gone to India if they didn’t have something lined up.
BTW I have forgotten which state has a literal flat-Earther as major Republican politician among all the political turbulence. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Republicans in that state do in the 2026 elections.
“Cloudflare Has Blocked 416 Billion AI Bot Requests Since July 1”
“Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince claims the internet infrastructure company’s efforts to block AI crawlers are already seeing big results.”
AS THE LARGE language models powering generative AI tools slurp up ever more data across the web, Cloudflare cofounder and CEO Matthew Prince said at WIRED’s Big Interview event in San Francisco on Thursday that the internet infrastructure company has blocked more than 400 billion AI bot requests for its customers since July 1. […]
“FBI Says DC Pipe Bomb Suspect Brian Cole Kept Buying Bomb Parts After January 6”
“The 30-year-old Virginia resident evaded capture for years after authorities discovered pipe bombs planted near buildings in Washington, DC, the day before the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.”
FEDERAL AGENTS ON Thursday announced the arrest of a suspect charged with planting the two pipe bombs discovered near the US Capitol complex on the eve of January 6, 2021. Authorities identified the man as Brian J. Cole Jr., a resident of Woodbridge, Virginia. The arrest marks a major break in a case that has vexed authorities for nearly five years.
Cole, 30, is charged with transporting an explosive device across state lines with the intent to kill, injure, intimidate, or destroy property and with attempting to damage and destroy the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees by means of an explosive device. If convicted, he would face the prospect of decades in prison.
According to an affidavit, investigators linked Cole to the bombs through a combination of surveillance footage, historical cell-site data, and years of purchase records showing he bought each major component used to construct the devices. Agents allege Cole acquired the same model of galvanized pipe, matching end caps, and nine-volt connectors, among other items, across multiple hardware stores in northern Virginia in 2019 and 2020.
Cole continued buying components used in bomb-making after his bombs in the Capitol were discovered, agents allege, listing the purchase of a white kitchen timer and two nine-volt batteries from a Walmart on January 21, as well as galvanized pipes from Home Depot the following day.
Senior Trump administration officials quickly cast the arrest as a vindication of their own leadership, claiming the case had gone cold. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she hoped the arrest would restore public trust following what she characterized as a “total lack of movement” on a case that had “languished for four years.” In their telling, the breakthrough was proof that the case only advanced once they were empowered to “go get the bad guys” and stop “focusing on other extraneous things,” as FBI deputy director Dan Bongino put it.
“Though it had been nearly five years, our team continued to churn through massive amounts of data and tips that we used to identify this suspect,” said Darren Cox, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division.
The bombs were planted near the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees the night of January 5, 2021, as Congress prepared to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Donald Trump. Both failed to detonate, but their discovery the following day added to the chaos and confusion unfolding as a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol building, causing millions of dollars in damage and injuring approximately 140 Capitol and Metropolitan Police Department officers.
The FBI says the pipe-bomb suspect moved through the Capitol wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, mask, gloves, and Nike Air Max sneakers, placing one device in an alley near the RNC and another beneath a bench outside the DNC. The bureau has consistently said that the devices, built from threaded metal pipe, a kitchen timer, and homemade black powder, were “viable” and could have been lethal, though it remains unclear whether they would have detonated absent intervention.
A passerby spotted the RNC bomb the following day and reported it to Capitol Police, who logged the call at 12:42 pm. A police countersurveillance team discovered the second bomb at the DNC headquarters at around 1:05 pm. Then-vice-president–elect Kamala Harris, who was on site at the time, was evacuated. US Secret Service agents had conducted a security sweep earlier that morning—including with a bomb-sniffing dog.
Perimeter failures were extensive at both sites as police responded simultaneously to breaches at the east front and west front of the Capitol building. Security footage captured two civilians walking by the RNC bomb more than half hour after its discovery, with no officers nearby to hold a blast perimeter. At the DNC building, numerous cars and pedestrians passed through what should have been a secured zone.
[…] Bongino played a significant role in his previous life as a right-wing influencer in criticizing the agency he now helps lead over its perceived lack of process in the case.
Bongino called the failure to identify a suspect “the biggest scandal in FBI history” on his podcast in January, adding that the agency already knew the name of the bomber and “just doesn’t want to tell us, because it was an inside job.” [bullshit]
Last month, far-right media outlet the Blaze, founded by Glenn Beck, claimed it had identified the alleged suspect as a former Capitol Police officer, basing its findings on an analysis of how the person walked. Bongino dismissed the allegations as “grossly inaccurate,” but the report led to many on the right once again slamming Bongino and his boss for failing to find the bomber.
Despite little being known about the suspected bomber, far-right figures online were already speculating on Thursday morning before he was officially named that he was a member of “antifa.” Others simply didn’t believe that the FBI had arrested the right guy: “Let’s see what they’ve got,” Republican congressman Thomas Massie wrote on X, adding, ”I’m not buying it.”
birgerjohanssonsays
Anton Petrov:
“Wow! Asteroid Bennu Discoveries Spark New Questions About Life’s Origins”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=OSwGcF5R3KM
It is nice to view science news that require us to look up from this squalid political and economic mess to issues like the origin of life.
“The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Is Detaining People for ICE”
“Louisiana’s hunting and wildlife authority is one of more than 1,000 state and local agencies that have partnered with US immigration authorities this year alone.”
THE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT Of Wildlife And Fisheries (LDWF), typically responsible in part for overseeing wildlife reserves and enforcing local hunting rules, has assisted United States immigration authorities with bringing at least six people into federal custody this year, according to documents WIRED obtained via a public record request.
According to the documents, LDWF signed a memorandum of agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in May, which gives the wildlife agency the authority to detain people suspected of immigration violations and to transfer them into ICE custody. Since then, at least six men entered ICE custody after coming into contact with or being detained by LDWF officers. None of the men were issued criminal charges at the time they came into contact with LDWF officers, the documents show. Two of the men were known by ICE to have been in the country legally at the time the agency took them into custody.
The documents also indicate that at least one “joint patrol” took place in a Louisiana wildlife management area in which LDWF agents were accompanied by officers with Customs and Border Protection and the US Coast Guard. The memorandum of agreement between ICE and LDWF makes no mention of CBP or the possibility of working with the agency as part of the agreement. However, the documents indicate that a relationship with CBP may have been facilitated through LDWF’s partnership with ICE.
LDWF partnered with ICE under the agency’s 287(g) program, named after the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that enables officers and employees at the state or local level to perform some of the functions of US immigration officers, such as investigating, apprehending, detaining, or transporting people suspected of violating immigration law.
As of December 3, exactly 1,205 agencies have partnered with ICE through the 287(g) program. (An additional eight agencies are currently pending approval from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.) Some 1,053 of these agreements were signed this year, meaning enrollment has increased by 693 percent compared to the end of 2024. The LDWF is one of just three state wildlife agencies—the others being the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources—that have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, according to public ICE records. All three agreements were signed this year.
The marked expansion of the 287(g) program this year has generated relatively little attention. However, the documents from the LDWF indicate that the state and local agencies enrolled are actively detaining people not guilty of any crimes, and facilitating their arrests and possible deportation.
[…] The report claims that on October 23, two LDWF officers patrolling the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area heard several gunshots in an area where “people often illegally target shoot.” The suspects, three men in their twenties, all cooperated with LDWF at the scene. When asked to show their weapons, they showed the officers a pistol, an AR-15, several magazines, and a few dozen rounds of ammunition. The officers confirmed that none of the firearms were stolen. One of the men also showed the officers where they had been shooting.
The men showed identification—a Louisiana ID card, a Honduran ID card, and a Honduran passport, respectively—when asked, but did not have the appropriate permits for being in a Wildlife Management Area and firing a weapon. The two men who fired weapons were issued three civil citations, while the one who didn’t was issued two. At some point during LDWF’s interactions with the men, the agency called immigration authorities.
“Due to the unknown immigration status and them possessing firearms, we made contact with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI),” the report reads. A HSI agent reportedly told LDWF that one of the men had a final removal order, one had “pending” immigration proceedings, and one man had legal parole to be in the US. When LDWF contacted the local ICE field office, ICE sent two agents to the scene.
Upon arrival, the report claims, “The ICE Officers made several phone calls and they decided to take custody of all three subjects.” All three men were placed in handcuffs and escorted to the ICE officers’ vehicles.
It’s unclear if any of these men were deported, but based on information in the report, none of them appear to currently be in ICE custody, according to the agency’s detainee locator.[…]
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and the architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
One senior White House official said that McCrery Architects and its CEO James McCrery would no longer be in the picture, after clashing with the president over the scope of the project, particularly the size of the ballroom, But two White House officials strongly denied McCrery was fired; they said he instead will remain on the ballroom project as a consultant.
The new architect is Shalom Baranes Associates, a Washington, DC-based firm that previously designed the General Services Administration’s national headquarters, according to the company’s website.
Trump wants to make the ballroom even bigger, and McCrery apparently objected. The new size isn’t clear yet but I’m guessing it will be bigger then the rest of the White House at this point.
In a chaotic meeting Thursday rife with misinformation, the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel — whose members Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired in June and replaced with a group that has largely expressed skepticism of vaccines — once again delayed an expected vote on hepatitis B vaccines.
New York Times:
The Food and Drug Administration has chosen Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, a sports medicine doctor and epidemiologist who has been a senior adviser, to run its drug division, according to a statement from the agency Wednesday evening. She will lead the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which oversees novel prescription, over-the-counter and generic drugs.
“Video shows second strike hit before survivors could flip boat, lawmakers say”
“The footage was shown on Capitol Hill, where Adm. Frank M. Bradley, who oversaw a deadly attack on alleged drug smugglers, faced a day of difficult questions about the operation.”
Video footage showing a U.S. military strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea shows two people attempting to flip their capsized vessel when they were attacked again, multiple lawmakers said Thursday after meeting with the Navy admiral who oversaw the controversial mission.
The recording was shown during meetings on Capitol Hill featuring Adm. Frank M. Bradley, the commander who oversaw the Sept. 2 operation that entailed four strikes in all. The attack killed 11 people, including the two people who survived the first blast that hit their boat.
Democrats emerged from the meetings alarmed and vowed to press ahead with congressional probes into the attack’s legality. Some Republicans who have been staunchly loyal to the Trump administration defended the operation.
Rep. Jim Himes (Connecticut), the House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, described the footage as “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.” The two survivors, he said, were “in clear distress” after their boat was “destroyed.”
“The video we saw today showed two shipwrecked individuals who had no means to move, much less pose an immediate threat, and yet they were killed by the United States military,” Himes and Rep. Adam Smith (Washington) said in a joint statement Thursday. Smith is the House Armed Services Committee’s ranking Democrat. “Regardless of what one believes about the legal underpinnings of these operations, and we have been clear we believe they are highly questionable, this was wrong.”
[I snipped comments from some Republicans, like Tom Cotton, who called the strikes “righteous.”]
[…] Calling for help could indicate the men were still able to move drugs, but it doesn’t make them combatants who pose a threat and can be killed, said Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who advised Special Operations forces on the law of war for seven years. “It’s a pretty flimsy argument,” said Huntley, now director of the national security law program at Georgetown Law.
“There was no boat. There was wreckage. There was no radio. There were two guys clinging to a tiny non-awash portion of the keel of a capsized boat,” said one lawmaker familiar with Thursday’s congressional briefings and the video that was shown. […]
“Texas officials drew the new congressional map to help Republicans gain up to five additional seats in the House in next year’s midterm elections.”
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a new congressional district map in next year’s midterm election that was drawn to maximize Republican political power. [Bad news!]
Granting an emergency application filed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the conservative majority paused a lower court ruling that said the map was unlawful because Republican lawmakers, at the direction of the Trump administration, explicitly considered race when drawing new districts.
The unsigned order said that Texas is “likely to succeed on the merits of its claim,” including that the lower court “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith” when assessing the state legislature’s motives.
The ruling appeared to be 6-3, with the three liberal justices dissenting.
The map was drawn with the aim of adding up to five additional Republican House seats.
The decision marks a win for President Donald Trump, who filed a brief urging the court to rule in favor of Texas.
The Supreme Court had provisionally put the decision on hold Nov. 21 while the justices weighed what next step to take, in an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito.
Traditionally, states draw new districts once a decade after the census shows how populations have shifted. But this year, Trump, worried about the narrow Republican majority in the House, has repeatedly pushed Republican-led states to draw new maps outside of that normal timeline.
A Trump administration letter earlier this year said the state could be subject to a federal lawsuit if it did not eliminate “coalition districts” in which nonwhite voters of different races constitute the majority.
[…] In the Texas case, the three-judge lower court invalidated the new map on a 2-1 vote, with the majority opinion authored by Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee.
While politics played a role in the maps being redrawn, there was “substantial evidence” that it was a racial gerrymander in violation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, he wrote. [!]
In asking the Supreme Court to block the lower court ruling, Texas’ lawyers argued in part that it was too late in the election cycle for federal judges to intervene. The lawyers also said that the new map was clearly designed for partisan gain and denied that there was any racial motive. [Well, yes, it was for partisan gain, but it was also a racially-based gerrymander.]
“This summer, the Texas legislature did what legislatures do: politics,” they wrote. [Not a good excuse.]
The lawsuit was brought by six different groups of plaintiffs, including the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, the Texas NAACP and two members of Congress, Texas Democratic Reps. Al Green and Jasmine Crockett.
In a court filing, one group of challengers said that “the entire thrust of the governor’s justification for authorizing redistricting” was to remove and replace the coalition districts, meaning that race and not partisan politics was the motive.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: birgerjohansson @18:
I have forgotten which state has a literal flat-Earther
“Federal officials failed to secure the new indictment against James, whom Trump has targeted, after a judge said the previous one was secured by an unlawfully appointed prosecutor.”
[…] James, a frequent political target of President Donald Trump’s who had successfully brought a fraud lawsuit against him, had previously been indicted by a grand jury on one charge of bank fraud and another of making false statements to a financial institution.
James has denied any wrongdoing.
Lindsey Halligan, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and a former personal attorney to Trump with no prior prosecutorial experience, presented the case to a grand jury on her own in the first go-round — and that case was declared void on Nov. 24 when a judge found Halligan’s appointment was unlawful.
The Justice Department initially vowed to appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie, but ultimately decided to seek a new, untainted indictment against James, a source familiar with the deliberations told NBC News earlier this week.
The new case was presented to a grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia, by different prosecutors.
The failure to secure an indictment on Thursday does not bar prosecutors from attempting to do so again in the future. [I guess the Trump team can just keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.] […]
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re JM @23:
I’m guessing it will be bigger then the rest of the White House
Ooh, Witkoff could get Russian blueprints for the Chernobyl sarcophagus.
“The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections.”
[Anakin and Padmé meme]: Ah, too close to the election? So you’re going to put off the Louisiana v. Callais ruling until after the midterms, right?
Lawrence Hurley (NBC):
[Nov 19]: Um… This is an actual judicial opinion (dissenting in the TX gerrymandering case).
The main winners from Judge Brown’s opinion are George Soros and Gavin Newsom. The obvious losers are the People of Texas and the Rule of Law. I dissent.
[Dec 04]: The Supreme Court sided with this dissent.
As Justice Kagan begins her dissent by pointing out, what is even the point of trial, of fact-finding, of clear error, of standards of review, when the Supreme Court simply ignores every single part of that and decides everything purely on the papers without any real consideration of the facts?
[…] the facts are what they want them to be, and quite frankly if District Courts disagree, they can pound sand because they’re not the ones in charge. […] It’s not just liberal judges they’re doing this to. They’re doing this to plenty of conservative judges too; judges who actually spent weeks and weeks poring over the details […] perhaps I’m overreading the extent to which the lower courts are going to be upset, but as someone who cares deeply about *facts,* I’m mostly just frustrated about the extent to which this Court doesn’t.
The ceremony is largely symbolic—the agreement was already signed over the summer and critics still see obstacles to its implementation.
[…]
they nearly descended into all-out war earlier in the year. In January, M23 rebels backed by thousands of Rwandan soldiers captured eastern Congo’s two largest cities. President Trump declared the June deal “a glorious triumph” and has since claimed to have ended over 30 years of war
[…]
Under its terms, Rwanda is meant to withdraw its troops and stop supporting the M23, a rebel group led by Congolese ethnic minority Tutsi commanders.
Congo is supposed to eradicate a militia known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)— which Rwanda’s government views as an existential threat. Ethnic Hutu extremists founded this militia when they fled to Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which killed nearly 800,000 Tutsi civilians.
The US is close to an institutional collapse across multiple public health agencies. Trump/RFK have purged anyone with expertise, many have fled and they’ve been replaced w functionaries who are either incompetent or malicious. I don’t think many understand how close to the edge we are right now.
90% of senior FDA staff are gone. Almost all of the living previous FDA commissioners have come out to the alarm.
Meanwhile former top CDC officials have warned that the agency has been hollowed out. [A quarter of its workforce] Thousands of staff are gone.
NIH is in tatters. Insiders speaking out are being fired.
While there have been news articles reporting all of this, no one has yet put together the pieces to show how bad things are across the board, what it means for human lives. Without a functioning FDA, CDC and NIH we are in big trouble.
In people with allergies, [the antibody] IgE is produced in response to proteins that do not usually cause harm, such as those found in peanuts, cat dander and other allergens. […] The vaccine triggers the production of antibodies that bind to IgE and stop it from binding to immune-cell receptors. That leaves less IgE available for generating an immune response
[…]
The vaccine is a promising scientific concept, but it’s still at a very early stage
The plane landed, slightly ahead of schedule, just moments before the incident happened at about 11pm. The drones reached the location where Zelenskyy’s plane was expected to be at the exact moment it had been due to pass. The drones then orbited above an Irish Navy vessel that had secretly been deployed in the Irish Sea for the Zelenskyy visit.
[…]
It is not yet known who launched and controlled the drones or where the drones are now. […] the fact that the drones had their lights on has led security forces to suspect that the aim was to disrupt the flight’s arrival […] the drones in the Irish Sea were large, hugely expensive […] The drones are believed to have been quadcopters as they were able to hover
[…]
Zelenskyy’s visit to Dublin went off without any major hitches.
Commentary
A useful reminder that Zelensky is engaging in all this furious shuttle diplomacy at massive personal risk to his own safety.
Ireland is a country of 5 ish million people—the idea it is gonna have the ability to respond to a major power drone attack (if that’s what it was) is pretty fanciful.
Galaxies residing in a huge filament of dark matter have been found to be mostly rotating in the same direction that the filament is spinning. It’s a discovery that challenges what astronomers think they know about how the environment influences galactic evolution.
The filament is a thread in the cosmic web, which is made of mostly dark matter and laced with ordinary matter, that spans the entire universe. Located 140 million light-years away, the filament has a nested structure. At its heart is a row of 14 galaxies almost precisely placed in a line 5.5 million light years long and 117,000 light-years wide, and all are rich in hydrogen gas that’s required for forming stars. This row of galaxies is then embedded in the larger filament that’s 50 million light years in length and is home to about 300 galaxies in total.
he row of galaxies is extraordinary not because they are aligned in a narrow band, but because many of them are rotating in the same direction as the filament itself. Think of each galaxy, slowly rotating around its axis, and then picture those galaxies perpendicular to the long axis of the filament and rotating about that spindle at 68 miles (110 kilometers) per second in the same direction as they themselves are spinning on their axis. All together, it is one of the largest cohesive rotating structures known in the universe.
‘500 tons of cocaine’: Trump pardons trafficker who helped flood U.S. with drugs. Chris Hayes on the pardon of ex- Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández: Trump keeps justifying the killing of more than 80 men on boats in the Caribbean as a way to save Americans from drugs, but just this week he pardoned a man who helped traffic more than 500 tons of cocaine into the U.S.
MAGA backlash builds as GOP women turn on Mike Johnson. Republican women from Marjorie Taylor Greene to Elise Stefanik are increasingly losing faith in Mike Johnson’s leadership, according to new reporting. Democratic Whip Katherine Clark weighs in.
A useful reminder that Zelensky is engaging in all this furious shuttle diplomacy at massive personal risk to his own safety.
Yes, agreed. I’ve been thinking about the risks Zelensky takes. He is both dedicated and brave.
Sky Captain @33, yep. Sometimes it seems like a slow slide downhill toward catastrophe, but really this decline that will lead to institutional collapse has been quite rapid.
Sky Captain @32, so it is all just theater. Trump gets to pose as a peace maker while Congo and Rwanda continue to fight. Eventually, Trump will blame someone else for his failures in this instance. As an aside, I find it hard to characterize how much I despise Trump spouting flapdoodle and bunkum like ““a glorious triumph.”
Sky Captain @31, this is a good summary of Justice Kagan’s dissent:
[…] as someone who cares deeply about *facts,* I’m mostly just frustrated about the extent to which this Court doesn’t.
“There’s no shortage of questions about Brian Cole Jr. and his actions, but some new details are coming to the fore.”
Related video at the link.
Hours before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, someone placed pipe bombs outside Republican and Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C. This led to a five-year manhunt that finally produced a breakthrough.
Federal agents arrested a suspect Thursday morning, taking Brian Cole Jr. into custody. The Virginia man, who lives roughly 23 miles south of Capitol Hill, has been charged with transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, according to charging documents filed in court.
[…] NBC News reported that Cole is cooperating with the FBI and has already shared important insights. From the report:
The man charged with planting two pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican party headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter.
This dovetails with a related account from MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian, who reported that the suspect confessed to agents Thursday that he planted the bombs near the Capitol — and indicated he supported Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with his interview.
These developments are obviously new, and as the investigation continues, officials will likely get a clearer sense of the suspect’s motivations.
But based on these initial reports, the suggestion that Cole might’ve somehow been aligned with Joe Biden or the left more broadly appears untrue.
It also raises questions anew about the relevance of Trump’s pardons for those who also went to Capitol Hill in January 2021 after embracing his false election conspiracy theories.
Cole is expected to appear in court on Friday afternoon. He has not yet entered a plea.
Those who steer clear of conservative media outlets may not realize that, for many on the right, a suspect in the Capitol pipe-bombs case was identified several weeks ago. An outlet called The Blaze cited a “gait analysis” last month and told readers that there was a 94% match between the suspect and a former Capitol Police officer. [FFS!]
Assorted far-right figures, including some Republican members of Congress and prominent Trump administration officials, took the reporting seriously, which was unfortunate: The “gait analysis” was wrong, and the former Capitol Police officer wasn’t the suspect.
But before far-right conspiracy theorists got this aspect of the story wrong, they had gotten a bunch of other things wrong.
Take FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, for example.
Last fall, the week before Election Day 2024, Bongino told listeners to his conservative podcast that there was “a massive cover-up” in the pipe-bombs case and that the bombs might’ve been placed outside Republican and Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C. as part of an “inside job” launched by the federal government. [Yikes! Yikes! Yikes! How deluded and twisted is Bongino?]
Earlier this year, Bongino went further, telling his audience that the FBI knew the identity of the bomber and “just doesn’t want to tell us because it was an inside job.” [As noted in comment 20.]
Eleven months later, Bongino helped lead a press conference to announce the arrest of a suspect in the case. If the FBI and the Justice Department have the right guy, then clearly this was not “an inside job” and those conspiracy theories were wrong.
How, pray tell, does the FBI deputy director explain peddling conspiratorial nonsense that his own agency appears to have debunked? As it turns out, Bongino was given an opportunity to explain himself during a Thursday night appearance on Fox News. [social media post and video]
Host Sean Hannity noted Bongino’s earlier comments about the case, to which the FBI deputy director responded, “You know, listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions. That’s clear. And one day, I’ll be back in that space, but that’s not what I’m paid for now.” [Wow. That is not a good excuse.]
So let me see if I have this straight: Bongino was a far-right media personality who used his platform to tell the public, among other things, about his conspiratorial beliefs related to the pipe-bombs case. Two months after peddling these claims, the president tapped him to help lead the FBI.
And now, however, Bongino seems willing to acknowledge that he didn’t know what he was talking about (or that he embraced certain positions because they were more lucrative) — which naturally raises a whole bunch of questions about why he was hired for a key federal law enforcement position and why anyone should find him credible going forward.
Bongino was saying, in effect: “I am an asshole, a mind boggling doofus, and you can’t trust me.”
The Trump DOJ is urging a judge to jail pardoned Jan. 6 defendant Taylor Taranto who has been alarmingly wandering the neighborhood of Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) in recent days. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who convicted Taranto at a bench trial this year for a threat to federal buildings and for bringing weapons to President Barack Obama’s D.C. neighborhood, did not immediately send Taranto to prison but ordered him to return immediately to his home in Washington state for the holidays, Politico reports.
Link. The link leads to a presentation of various, current news reports.
Summary
– U.S. diplomats asked to review H-1B visa applicants’ LinkedIn profiles
– says H-1B visa applicants, others should not have engaged in “censorship”
– H-1B visas are crucial for the tech companies, many of whose leaders supported Trump
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, with an internal State Department memo saying that anyone involved in “censorship” of free speech be considered for rejection.
H-1B visas, which allow U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty fields, are crucial for U.S. tech companies which recruit heavily from countries including India and China. […]
The cable, sent to all U.S. missions on December 2, orders U.S. consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants – and family members who would be traveling with them – to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others.
“If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible,” under a specific article of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the cable said. [Strange definition of “censorship.”]
[…] “You must thoroughly explore their employment histories to ensure no participation in such activities,” the cable said.
The new vetting requirements apply to both new and repeat applicants.
“We do not support aliens coming to the United States to work as censors muzzling Americans,” a State Department spokesperson said […]
Officials have repeatedly weighed in on European politics to denounce what they say is suppression of right-wing politicians, including in Romania, Germany and France, accusing European authorities of censoring views like criticism of immigration in the name of countering disinformation.
[…] The Trump administration has already significantly tightened its vetting of applicants for student visas, ordering U.S. consular officers to screen for any social media posts that may be hostile towards the United States. [I think they mean “hostile towards Trump and authoritarians like him.”]
As part of his wide-ranging crackdown on immigration, Trump in September imposed new fees on H-1B visas.
Trump and his Republican allies have repeatedly accused the administration of Democratic former President Joe Biden of encouraging suppression of free speech on online platforms, claims that have centered on efforts to stem false claims about vaccines and elections.
Trump wants to be free to spread disinformation. And he wants to admit to the USA only H-1B visa applicants who also are on his disinformation bandwagon.
IRELAND: Russia is suspected of being behind a hybrid warfare campaign using drones to disrupt airspace around European airports. In the latest incident, five military-style drones triggered a major security alert in Ireland, arriving in the flight path of visiting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shortly after his aircraft passed by. “Officials are treating it as a potential attempt to disrupt flight operations rather than to attack a target,” the Irish Times reported.
The Secretary of Defense taking extrajudicial killing requests from podcast hosts. [Screenshot]
Andrew Kolvet’s Bio: Christian. […] producer of The Charlie Kirk Show.
Kolvet: Every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean.
Hegseth: Your wish is my command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat.
Commentary
The irony of Hegseth saying this the same day Trump stood inside an institute that he renamed for himself and declared world peace.
He’s legit doing the ‘x likes and I’ll y’ for crimes against humanity, it’s disgusting.
Cameo but for murder.
Hey Pete, you know there’s no statute of limitations for murder, right?
Patrick Shea (Former attorney): “Pardons don’t apply to international law. In fact, it is a violation of international law for state actors to use pardons or amnesty in an attempt to shield war criminals from justice. When the rule of law is restored, these thugs, all of them, need to be on the first flight to the Hague.”
The Clinton administration signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but did not submit it for Senate ratification. The George W. Bush administration, the U.S. administration at the time of the ICC’s founding, stated that it would not join the ICC. The Obama administration subsequently re-established a working relationship with the Court as an observer. […] Senate must approve the treaty by a two-thirds majority before it can take effect.
[…]
the U.S. has participated in various international courts including the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the Nuremberg trials, and the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
The Trump administration released its “National Security Strategy” on Thursday night, but the document reads more like a manifesto advocating for white supremacy than a supposed national defense plan.
The document calls on Europe to restore its “Western identity” and “civilizational self-confidence,” echoing the language of white supremacist movements. It also advocates against migration to the United States and Europe, which has long been cited as a goal of supremacists seeking to purportedly preserve white culture.
The Trump strategy argues that Europe faces “civilizational erasure” and blames organizations like the European Union and other international groups that supposedly “undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
White supremacists have historically argued that white civilization is under assault from non-white infiltrators who are undermining existing governments. The document gives a stamp of approval to the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which Trump has previously endorsed while opposing the migration of non-white people to America.
This theory has inspired numerous acts of violence, including the 2022 mass shooting at a grocery store in New York, a 2015 mass shooting at a South Carolina church, and a 2018 mass shooting at a synagogue in Pennsylvania, among others.
The national security document also offers praise for the “growing influence of patriotic European parties,” which is clearly a reference to bigoted, nationalist parties like the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD. The German government has labeled AfD as a “proven right-wing extremist organization,” and AfD leaders have used Nazi slogans and engaged in Holocaust denialism.
Vice President JD Vance has complained about criticism of AfD, writing in May, “The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it.”
National security strategies do not typically offer endorsements of white nationalism.
[…] this administration has chosen to embrace racism and white supremacy, and it adds to the litany of actions Trump has undertaken to support bigotry and to attack the existence of non-white people.
[…] it sounds very much like the handiwork of senior White House aide Stephen Miller, who is arguably the most virulently racist figure in Trump’s inner circle. [Yep. True.]
Now they want the world to share in their bigoted approach.
Dangerous. More or less Nazi-like obsession with racial purity, plus lots of Trump’s authoritarianism, plus Stephen Miller’s basic evil. Very bad indeed.
Mike Johnson branded himself a “wartime” speaker of the House during a Friday appearance on Fox Business. He also claimed he and President Donald Trump work nearly every hour in the day doing who knows what for the American people. [video]
Host Stuart Varney.Varney: Do you work 18 hours a day?
Johnson: More, more. And I have to because President Trump works 21 hours a day. [bullshit … and even if true, that would counter productive and probably dangerous]
Stuart: I see you on TV all the time, always surrounded by hostile media [inaudible].
Johnson: Oh yes, it’s a really fun job, Stuart. […]
Stuart: Are you enjoying it? I’m sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Speaker, but I’ve got to get to grips with the job you’re doing.
Johnson: I mean, I’m a wartime speaker in a real sense, and so it’s not the most enjoyable job in the world. [WTF?] But I do love what we’re doing. I love the team I work with. We have a unified Republican Party. [not true] If we didn’t, Stuart, we would not have delivered on all the things that we have this year. There’s much more ahead of us, and this team is excited about it.
“Donald Trump Isn’t Some Self-Aggrandizing Tinpot Dictator! He Appoints People For That.”
“Say hello to the Donald J. Trump Institute Of Getting His Piece.”
Donald Trump, who is, somehow, president of the United States, still hasn’t been awarded that Nobel Peace Prize he so feverishly covets […] But as a participation trophy, the US State Department yesterday announced that the US Institute of Peace will now be known forevermore, or at least until someone with a crowbar is sent over there, as the “Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace,” because that name will “reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history.” Say, did you hear he’s ended around 50 or 60 wars since taking office? He’ll tell you all about it if you let him, even if he has to make up some or all of the wars.
As you’ll recall, in the early days of his second administration, Trump illegally tried to dismantle the institute, a think tank for international conflict resolution whose congressional charter created it as a nonprofit entity that’s supposed to be independent of the executive branch. There was even a brief armed standoff as DOGE goons seized the building to change the locks.
The administration is actually still embroiled in litigation over control of the institute, but what the hell, now that Trump’s name is on it, the Supreme Court will have to agree that whatever laws created the institute, it’s his now. The building was owned by the former Institute of Peace board, but Trump fired all the members and the building is for now under control of the General Services Administration. Trump may use it as collateral for refinancing some of his other trash palaces, who knows?
Oh, did we mention that yesterday, while the Trump administration continued to insist it isn’t war-criming, the Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth ordered the extrajudicial murder of yet another four people, in an illegal drone strike on a boat supposedly carrying drugs? You know, just to underline the Orwellian renaming of the peace institute. Appropriate too, since the Institute of Peace was created in the year 1984.
To mark the completely meaningless addition of the new sign, a White House spokesbot with the designation “Anna Kelly” said,
“The United States Institute of Peace was once a bloated, useless entity that blew $50 million per year while delivering no peace. Now, the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, which is both beautifully and aptly named after a President who ended eight wars in less than a year, will stand as a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability.”
She added, “Congratulations, world!”
To reflect Trump’s amazing work in ending wars all over the globe, we recommend that the renamed building be left completely vacant, with the electricity off. [LOL]
In related news, SFGATE reported yesterday that the National Parks Service has changed the federal holidays that qualify for free admission to America’s national parks, eliminating both Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth, because they are illegal and promote idleness, adding free admission on the important American holiday of June 14, which is close enough to June 19th that Black Americans can easily make the switch and celebrate the birthday of their real saviour and best friend, Donald J. Trump. And if they don’t like it they can, as Great Leader said this week of one subset of Black American citizens, just “go back to where they came from” and stop complaining.
Yeah, subtle messaging about who counts as American, isn’t it?
No, in case you are wondering, no living president has ever had a federal building (if that’s even what the Institute of Peace building ends up being) named for him while he was in office. Nor has any branch of the US government ever treated the birthday of a sitting president as a holiday. But that’s OK, because things are changing here in the Trump States of Trumpmerica, and it’s a very good thing that you will like and accept, because after all, he won the 2024 election with 100 percent of the vote, that’s what all the history books say now.
Trump’s Blessing be upon you, fellow Trumpmericans! Everything is getting much better now, thanks to our wise beloved leader!
“JD Vance Welcomes All Jews To Participate In Christmas”
In yet another seasonal blunder that’s become almost as much a Hanukkah tradition as wondering how kids in olden days got excited about dreidels […] Vice President JD Vance’s office sent out invitations to a Hanukkah celebration at the Veep’s residence that treated the Jewish holiday as just one more part of Christmas. Twice!
But don’t worry, it wasn’t a mistake; it was actually a conscious decision […]
Here’s the invite, spotted by Jewish Insider reporter Gabby Deutch, who posted the image to social media Wednesday […] “Hanukkah” at least got the biggest typeface, but it’s underneath a heading that’s all about the Christian holiday”: [Image]
[…] “CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF CHRISTMAS AT THE VICE PRESIDENT’S RESIDENCE.” [Image]
Super-classy, and very Christmassy, because Jesus is the reason for the season. Kind of has nothing to do with Hanukkah, though […]
As The Independent reports, a spokesman for Vance explained that “The same branding for invitations was used for all holiday parties at the Vice President’s Residence,” so it was simply a matter of keeping design consistency, not any sort of religious message, silly. The spox continued blathering, “The Vance family is celebrating 50 historic years of Christmas at the Vice President’s Residence. They look forward to welcoming all of their guests.”
Donald Trump and JD Vance’s America is a Christian Nationalist America, so of course even Jewish holidays are part of the same Judeo-Christian (but really, just Christian) heritage we all share. Just remember that the “Judeo” part is silent, like the “t” in “Christmas” or the “Donald Trump” in “Epstein Files.”
We can only hope that this year’s Trump and Vance Christmakkah parties don’t turn out like the 2020 Hanukkah bash at the Trump White House, which ended up being a COVID-19 superspreader event.
As every story about this deliberate error points out, this isn’t the first time presidential Hanukkah cards have similarly fucked up. In 2008, the George W. Bush White House sent out invitations to a Hanukkah reception, but the cards had the same image as their Christmas cards, a picture of a snowy White House with wreaths in the windows and an olde-fashioned horse-drawn wagon delivering a Christmas tree.
But the other outlets didn’t go to the bother of tracking down that ridiculous image, while Yr Wonkette did: [image]
t least the Bush team had the sense to apologize instead of insisting that Hanukkah was intentionally treated as a subcategory of Christmas. Sally McDonough, Laura Bush’s press secretary, said that “Mrs. Bush is apologetic,” but it was an oversight that “just slipped through the cracks” as the Bushes were preparing to leave the White House. […]
A few days later, the White House sent out new invites to the reception, with an image of the menorah given to President Truman by Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion after Truman was among the first world leaders to recognize Israel’s statehood in 1948. [image]
Included in the second-try invitation was a smaller card reading “Please accept our apologies as the invitation you previously received had the incorrect artwork.” Pretty classy, although it would have been even better if it had added that “those responsible have been sacked.”
And while it wasn’t a president, just a failed presidential candidate, Yr Wonkette will always be delighted by the festive greetings in an old email by Wisconsin’s future Gov. Scott Walker, from his time as Milwaukee County executive. Walker replied to Milwaukee attorney Franklyn Gimbel that he’d be happy to put up a menorah in the Milwaukee County Courthouse, and added a festive closing: “Thank you again and Molotov.”
Way better holiday tradition than that Adam Sandler movie! May your own Hanukkah be incendiary extraordinary!
“As the president threatens Venezuela, Russia and China are filling the information vacuum.”
President Donald Trump has said he won’t rule out anything when it comes to removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro from power. Yet he is missing an important tool from the arsenal: the Voice of America.
Since Trump’s March executive order dismantling the news agency, most of VOA’s 1,300 staff members and contractors have been fired or placed on administrative leave, its website has been frozen and the 83-year-old broadcaster has gone dark for the first time since its founding during World War II.
Before being shuttered, VOA’s weekly Spanish-language audience in Latin America was more than 100 million people, according to an audience survey released in January by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. That’s especially important in Venezuela, where the regime of Nicolás Maduro has closed most independent media outlets and continues to harass journalists. Around eight journalists are in prison. Many more have fled.
Until Trump’s edict, the broadcaster focused on communicating U.S. foreign policy to Venezuelans, including letting audiences hear unfiltered news conferences, briefings and congressional hearings focused on Maduro’s political repression, corruption, economic mismanagement and, yes, Maduro’s drug trafficking ties. VOA reporters reported inside the country on last year’s presidential elections — which Maduro stole. VOA traveled with opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and interviewed eyewitnesses to Maduro’s election rigging.
No doubt Maduro celebrated VOA’s shortsighted closure. The vacuum is being filled by outlets the regime and its allies control. In addition to the Russia Today TV network, the Chinese Communist Party uses the Xinhua News Agency and CGTN, Beijing’s global broadcasting network, to peddle anti-American content. On Sunday, for example, CGTN aired a segment in which man-on-the-street Venezuelans decry Trump.
VOA itself isn’t going to dislodge Maduro from power […] But in a world of propaganda disguised as fact, the VOA had established itself as a trustworthy source of news in Venezuela.
The fired employees are fighting the broadcaster’s closure. Congress can act by restoring VOA funding, so America’s voice can be heard again.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Brad Moss (Natsec attorney): “The FBI now consists of ‘Uber for drunks’.”
[Patel] ordered that the security detail protecting his girlfriend escort one of her allegedly inebriated friends home after a night of partying […] Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, asked FBI agents on her security team at least two times […] to drive her friend home, and agents objected […] But Patel insisted they do as Wilkins requested and in one case called the leader of Wilkins’ security detail and yelled at him to do so.
[…]
it was already disturbing that Patel had pulled elite tactical agents away from their SWAT mission to drive his girlfriend around town. […] the director instructed tactical agents to use their time on yet another person the FBI had no reasonable duty to protect.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Rando: “The National Security strategy could have saved everyone a lot of time if they’d just published the 14 words instead because that’s what it amounts to.”
[Section heading]: What Should The United States Want?
This is an, um, interesting phrasing, especially with “Should” italicized. […] Why not say something like “The goals of foreign policy”? […] it imposes US desires on the rest of the world.
Many of the “wants” in this section are directly controverted by actions of the Trump administration.
* safety
* protection from propaganda
* a resilient national infrastructure
* world’s strongest blah blah blah economy
* remain the world’s most scientifically… advanced… country
* maintain “soft power” (Sorry, but [laughing tears emoji x3])
[…]
We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States; we want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations; we want a Hemisphere […] that supports critical supply chains
Starting a war with Venezuela hardly seems a good way to do this, but whadda I know.
[…]
Three paragraphs of Praise To Our Leader, who gives us these principles. […] Predisposition to Non-Interventionism. Like in Venezuela and Argentina. […] they love to declare things for the entire world, as Trump declared the airspace over Venezuela closed.
a propaganda document, designed to be widely read. It is also a performative suicide. Hard to think of another great power ever abdicating its influence so quickly and so publicly. It will be worth following the reactions around the world, not just in Europe.
Sen.Ted Budd (R-N.C.) said Friday he will lift his remaining holds on President Trump’s nominees to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the department approved disaster recovery funds for his state.
Budd had holds on Sean Plankey, who was nominated to be director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Pedro Allende, who was nominated to be under secretary for Science and Technology.
His announcement comes after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved $29 million in reimbursements for Hurricane Helene recovery projects in North Carolina.
He previously lifted his hold on James Percival, who was nominated to be the agency’s general counsel, after FEMA approved another $155 million. […]
However, he also noted that there’s still more funding that has yet to be approved.
“While I have released my holds on DHS nominees, I will continue to engage all relevant federal agencies to make sure Western North Carolina receives the focus and attention it deserves, particularly the final distribution of funds to the municipalities and state agencies in desperate need of financial relief,” he said.
[…] Under its Public Assistance Program, FEMA provides grants to help states, tribes, local governments and some nonprofits to respond to major disasters. These grants fund projects like debris removal and restoring infrastructure.
The Trump administration has taken a critical eye to FEMA. Noem and Trump have floated axing the agency entirely, though they are expected to ultimately shrink its role rather than eliminate it.
The review council set up by the administration is expected to soon publish a list of policy reform recommendations.
“The CDC’s change to hepatitis B vaccination is even worse than it seems”
“The new recommendations portend even more harmful shifts ahead.”
A seismic shift in the nation’s approach to public health occurred Friday, one that was foreseen the moment Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee with vaccine skeptics. The panel voted to end the universal birth-dose recommendation for hepatitis B, a bedrock of the childhood immunization schedule for more than 30 years. Though the vaccine will still be available to parents who request it, the change will have many negative effects and might be even more alarming than it initially seems.
The biggest shift is that the vaccine is no longer recommended for all babies. Instead, the committee says that for infants born to mothers who test negative for hepatitis B, parents and clinicians should decide on their own whether to give the birth dose — and, if they skip it, to wait until at least two months of age to begin vaccination.
On the bright side, the policy doesn’t change care for the babies at highest risk: Infants born to mothers known to have hepatitis B will still receive the vaccine, along with a preventive immunoglobulin, to reduce the risk of perinatal transmission. And families who want their newborns to receive the hepatitis B shot can still choose it and have it be covered by insurance.
But this new approach attempts to solve an issue that doesn’t exist. There is no evidence that the birth dose is unsafe, and no evidence that waiting until two months offers any advantage to safety or efficacy. What ending the universal recommendation does do is inject complexity into a system that already struggles to reach every infant, especially those whose families lack a regular pediatrician or whose mothers’ hepatitis B status is recorded late or inaccurately. It also implies that the birth dose carries some risk that warrants hesitation, when no such risk has been shown.
Plus, transmission doesn’t just happen mother-to-baby. Hepatitis B can spread through casual contact, including shared household items, small amounts of blood or saliva on toys and surfaces. Everyday interactions such as sharing spoons or cups, handling a baby with microscopic cuts on one’s hands or even inadvertently mixing up toothbrushes can be enough to transmit the virus. A study cited by CDC staff concluded that as many as 1 in 10 children with hepatitis B acquire it through such exposures.
Several committee members suggested that parents could try to identify whom around their newborn might pose a risk, but that is simply not practical. Families cannot be expected to screen every relative, friend or child care provider for hepatitis B, particularly when many adults don’t know their own status. [So true.]
And the stakes for infants are high: About 90 percent of infected babies go on to develop chronic hepatitis B, a lifelong incurable disease that can silently damage the liver for decades before it manifests as liver failure. [!] Many will develop liver cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of less than 20 percent.[!]
Universal newborn vaccination has helped drive childhood hepatitis B infections down from 18,000 cases in 1991 to just about 20. Why change a policy that has been so effective? [!]
That’s not all. The hepatitis B vaccine is currently given as a three-dose series, and all three doses are needed to be considered fully protected. The advisers voted to change this process. Now, after just one dose, parents are supposed to ask their clinician about doing a blood test to check antibody levels. If the antibodies meet a threshold of 10 milli–international units per milliliter, then presumably no further shots are needed.
That might sound reasonable: If someone is already immune after one shot, why not forgo the others? Except no evidence supports this approach. [!!] Even proponents of the change could produce no data, despite repeated requests, demonstrating that a single dose provides reliable protection or that, after one shot, the new antibody threshold is an appropriate marker of lasting immunity. This guidance is not only baseless but dangerous, as it gives families false assurance that their children are protected when they might not be. [True]
Taken together, the changes point to a disturbing and consequential shift: Health policy decisions are no longer being rooted in solid science, but in speculation and suspicion. Listening to the proceedings, it was as if data no longer mattered; the only thing guiding these appointees are their deeply held belief that vaccines are the source of harm rather than the lifesaving tools they are. [Sigh. All too true.]
The advisers ended their meeting with an outline for even broader changes they plan to make to the childhood immunization schedule. […] which once-controlled disease will be first to return?
U.S. Southern Command said Thursday that the Defense Department carried out another ‘lethal kinetic strike’ at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that killed four men. … It’s the 22nd military strike reported by the Trump administration against alleged drug-carrying boats in recent months.
he Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review President Donald Trump’s bid to upend birthright citizenship. A ruling for the government would discard the long-held understanding of automatic citizenship for people born in the U.S., regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned the U.S. could be about to ‘betray’ Ukraine, according to a leaked transcript of a call between European leaders strategizing about how to protect Kyiv.
President Donald Trump may remove members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board at will, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The 2-1 decision from a panel of judges in Washington, D.C., reverses lower-court rulings blocking Trump’s attempts to fire members of the key labor and employment panels.
A federal judge in Florida on Friday ordered the release of grand jury transcripts from the federal sex trafficking cases of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith said a recently passed federal law ordering the release of records related to the cases overrode a federal rule prohibiting the release of matters before a grand jury.
The Trump administration’s ultimatum to stop regulating social media platforms in exchange for tariff relief does not appear to have persuaded officials with the European Union. On Friday, Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, was hit with a $140 million fine for violating the EU’s Digital Services Act, a set of transparency laws designed to curb the corrosive powers of tech platforms like social media sites.
Meta Platforms is planning cuts to the metaverse, an arena Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg once called the future of the company. … Meta has seen operating losses of more than $77 billion since 2020 in its Reality Labs division, which includes its metaverse work.
Remember when we learned in 2018 that the United States would host the 2026 World Cup along with Mexico and Canada? Back then, it seemed like an amazing opportunity to be part of an inherently multicultural sporting event that draws the largest crowds possible.
Yeah, that feeling is gone now. Now, the World Cup is just another vehicle to curry favor with President Donald Trump by celebrating Donald Trump, and it’s so gross. Friday’s World Cup Draw, where country names are drawn out of pots to create matchups, kicked off not with soccer, but with obsequiously praising Trump, including presenting him with the ugliest trophy ever.
This state of affairs was likely inevitable because the head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, is basically Trump if Trump ran a sports governing body. Infantino loves dictators, money, and making decisions in secret so there’s no accountability, using his position to hand out money to ensure loyalty. […]
It was also inevitable that Infantino […] invented the FIFA Peace Prize on the fly to present to Trump during the draw. According to Trump, he has ended eleventy wars, a claim that does not hold up under scrutiny, but that little detail wasn’t going to stop Infantino from giving Trump a consolation prize since he can’t nab a Nobel Peace Prize.
This is where the comically ugly trophy comes in. It’s so ugly that even The New York Times called it ugly. You can go see for yourself—or not, if you feel like this thing might haunt your dreams. [Image at the link]
The trophy is a bunch of weird, elongated, witchy hands reaching up from the base of the trophy to grab a globe, with Trump’s name appearing below. […]
Infantino literally bowed when he presented it to Trump and also gave him a gold medal, and then let Trump give a little speech praising himself: “This is truly one of the great honors of my life. Beyond awards, we saved millions and millions of lives. The fact that we could do that, so many different wars that were able to end in some cases right before they started, it was great to get them done. I want to thank my family, my great first lady Melania. Thank you very much. You are going to have an event the likes of which the world has never seen. The world is a safer place now, the United States a year ago was not doing too well and it’s the hottest place anywhere right now.”
Well, if by “hottest,” you mean “most hellish,” then sure.
Infantino said that the award was “on behalf of football-loving people around the world,” which is probably a surprise to most football-loving people around the world and also a surprise to the rest of FIFA. The 37-member council wasn’t involved in creating the award, the 211-member FIFA Congress didn’t vote to create the award, nor did they vote on who would win. [!]
[I snipped text describing some of Trump’s recent bad/illegal actions that have disturbed the rest of the world.]
Even the World Cup itself is not exactly a peaceful thing under Trump. During the Club World Cup earlier this year, a smaller lead-in to the 2026 World Cup, Customs and Border Patrol said they would “act as security” in Miami and told the local news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel would also be there, and any non-citizens needed to have their papers on them.
Vice President JD Vance also made sure to tell people from other countries who come to watch the Cup to make sure to get the f*ck out when things were done: “Of course everyone is welcome to come and see this wonderful event. We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the games,” Vance said. “But when the time is up we want them to go home, otherwise they will have to talk to [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem.”
Nothing says peace and football-loving like threatening to deport soccer fans, right? FIFA and Infantino should be up in arms about a host country behaving this way, but corrupt people love corrupt people, and Infantino and Trump are a match made in hell.
DC Metropolitan Police just shared a tiny bit more body cam footage from the March US Institute of Peace raid in response to my FOIA lawsuit […] One clip shows USIP President George Moose being escorted out.
[Video clip]
Moose: Good evening. I’m surprised to meet you here.
MPD: Yeah, unfortunately. How ya been.
Moose: Well, we were fine. We’ve had better days. On St. Patrick’s day, we would’ve expected a little better.
MPD to another: You’re not allowed to wear green.
Moose: I get to pinch you. Okay, so you know we’re gonna see you all in court.
MPD: Yeah we figured that.
Moose: We thought you guys were our friends.
MPD: We are your friends.
Moose: Alright, I… will take that… and hope to see that demonstrated down the line.
Another clip […] shows the same white shirt cop addressing three USIP staff members outside the building. He says “Obviously there’s gonna be lawsuits on the back end of this, and civil stuff.”
We’ve heard so much about the DOGE raids but have very little physical evidence of what they were actually like. It’s weird to be able to see an instance of it actually happening—the mundanity of it all. How the cops were jovially complicit.
Sky Captain @69, the banality of evil. And the surprising tendency of people to be nice to each other when face to face … no matter what the circumstances.
[House Speaker Mike Johnson] told a reporter this week that Americans worried about the rising cost of living need to just “relax” and wait for the provisions in the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” that Republicans passed earlier this year to kick in.
“We are exactly on the trajectory of where we’ve always planned to be. Steady at the wheel, everybody. It’s gonna be fine. Our best days are ahead of us,” Johnson said.
[Gaslighting the public. Also, “just relax” when you may not be able to pay your heating bill this winter? Johnson is both clueless and arrogant.]
However, the bill will actually make the affordability crisis worse for low-income Americans by cutting tens of billions of dollars in Medicaid and food stamps. [!!!]
What’s more, Affordable Care Act subsidies that make insurance more affordable for millions of Americans are set to expire at the end of the year. If they are not extended, millions will see their premiums more than double. […] preventable catastrophe too.
Worse than that, President Donald Trump’s tariffs are hurting the economy, forcing companies to conduct layoffs from the levies and economic uncertainty. Other companies have raised prices for consumers—the exact opposite of what Americans voted for in 2024. And some Americans are even forced to pay the tariffs themselves, getting surprise bills for online orders.
[…] Ultimately, Republicans are screwed in the 2026 midterms because none of their plans will lower costs—the issue that Americans care about the most.
And as the GOP freaks out over its waning majority, it’s turning the House into a total disaster, warring not only with Johnson but with each other.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries summed it up perfectly on Thursday.
“Donald Trump is fighting with Marjorie Taylor Greene. Marjorie Taylor Greene is fighting with the House Republican Conference. Corey Mills is fighting with Nancy Mace. Nancy Mace is fighting with Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson is fighting with Elise Stefanik. Elise Stefanik is fighting with Lisa McClain,” Jeffries said.
He then continued, “The whole thing is a mess. The 119th Congress has turned into a bad episode of ‘Republicans Gone Wild.’ And here’s the problem. Republicans are so busy fighting each other, they can’t be bothered to fight for the American people.”
How it started: New York state Attorney General Letitia James in 2022 bringing a case that got Donald John Trump, his two sons and their perjuring accountant legally declared before all the world frauds, con men and liars, and that Trump the elder owed the State of New York $364 million plus interest for all his blatant scams, like making his Florida roach motel worth $18 million at tax time, and $739 million at loan time, and his New York penthouse triple the footage it actually was at loan time, or when he wanted to get on a list of Glossy Magazine’s Top 100 Rich Assholes.
[That’s certainly a damning summary. “frauds, con men and liars”]
How it went: Donald John Trump somehow again getting elected president of the United States of America, vowing to rain down great vengeance against his political enemies, and screaming on his web platform for PAM to hurry up and install his former(?) personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan so she could indict Letitia James and James Comey and Adam Schiff NOW!!! Because “they impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!)” […]
And then Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte and Ed Martin, the Weaponization Czar of Naming, Shaming, and peeping into women’s windows, allegedly sent two guys, Robert Bowes (who was nominated for a spot on the Consumer Finance Protection Board in Trump’s first term) and Scott Strauss (a voter-fraud conspiracy-theory spreader), to pose as FBI agents and delve through private mortgage documents. Based on some tip he got from Crazy Eddie, BTW.
[…] Now a second grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has refused to indict Attorney General Letitia James on the ridiculous charges that she unfairly took a tax break on a second home. The same flimsy thing that they’re investigating Federal Reserve Board governor Lisa Cook about. You will recall, James’s first indictment on two felony counts got thrown out with James Comey’s, on account of Lindsey Halligan being not legally appointed to the job (and no other prosecutors having been willing to sign off on the sham indictments).
And now it appears this second grand jury was quickly convened, this time by Roger Keller — a prosecutor shipped in from Missouri, known to sport MAGA hats around St. Louis — after every other single prosecutor in the office refused to bring it, and the previous prosecutors wrote a detailed memo about why not. And then at least three of them quit or got fired for that.
And this Roger Keller could not indict that ham sandwich either! Federal grand juries are known to indict more than 99 percent of the time […] Will PAM be able to find someone else to go after James a third time because this is KILLING her REPUTATION and CREDIBILITY? We shall see! But it sure does look more selective-prosecution-y each time!
Also the second-home-tax-credit thing is hard to prosecute, because prosecutors have to show beyond a reasonable doubt an intent to defraud for financial gain, and at the moment they signed, not afterwards. And James intended to let her niece live in the house for free, which she put in writing. And James only made $1-$5k in rent revenue over five years, way under the market rate, barely even enough to cover basic maintenance. And, James is not a idiot. She had lawyers review everything. Not only was the property not for James’s financial gain, the woman comes off like a saint.
[…] reportedly Bill Pulte’s own dad and stepmom also did a homestead-exemption-on-a-second-home-tax-credit thing, though they really did rent out their second home for profit in the first year, while claiming it and another home as their primary residence at the same time. Tsk tsk!
Oh hey, is Bill’s dad Mark or his father Bill senior the “friend pulty the developer” that Jeffrey Epstein refers to in those emails, the one Epstein said was helping him drive up the price of a house to a Palm Beach record with Trump, to the benefit of a Russian? Bill’s father Mark and grandfather Bill were both Florida real estate developers. Just asking questions!
Anyway, up in Maryland, it seems the attempted prosecution of Adam Schiff sounds to be going even worse! [LOL] Now Pulte and Martin are also accused of improperly sharing sensitive grand jury information, plus sending fake FBI agents to do investigating, derp! Even doofus Todd Blanche is reportedly worried that those two [guys] may have tainted the investigations into James, and also Adam Schiff, too.
Christine Bish, a California realtor who’d accused Schiff of mortgage fraud for whatever reasons, was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland. Bish was hoping to help Trump out, and was surprised instead to find the prosecutor’s office and FBI much more interested in respectively subpoena-ing and discussing her communications with Pulte, Bowes, and Strauss. Awkward!
[…] Bish sounded surprised to learn that Bowes and Strauss, who had represented themselves to her as “investigators,” were actually not with the FBI.
[…] And based on a referral from Senate Democrats, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is reportedly probing Pulte too. For what it’s worth these days, under Trump.
It’s funny, but also sad. The harassment is the point, and James, Comey, and Schiff should not have to pay for lawyers or spend their time on this bullshit. [So true.]
Last word to Letitia James! From October, but still works. You can’t expect her to make a statement every time Trump’s lackeys trip […]! She has an actual job to do. [video]
[…]
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: Lynna @70:
the surprising tendency of people to be nice to each other when face to face
I’m sure the alternative was not far from their minds.
birgerjohanssonsays
Here is a fun little distraction from the ongoing apocalypse.
Anime: Introvert guy sewing outfits for cosplay (as seen in parody made by Grimmjack)
“My Dress-Up Darling Abridged – Episode 1 (S1) ”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=bMjiwW5vYwQ
At trial, a police officer testified that Zuffante had confessed […] prompting Zuffante to interject and accuse the detective of lying; he took the stand [losing his 5th amendment protection.] […] The officer had taken no written notes during the interrogation, only filing a report a week later. With just Zuffante’s word against the officer’s, he was […] sentenced to twenty years in prison.
[…]
Hawaii Supreme Court sided with him last week […] holding that police have a constitutional obligation to record interrogations. The ruling means that law enforcement in the state will now be required to record all interrogations taking place inside police stations. It also requires police to record them outside stations “when feasible.”
[…]
But the court didn’t rely on the U.S. Constitution in arriving at its decision—instead, it relied exclusively on the Hawaii Constitution, which contains similar language.
Justice Todd Eddins, who authored the majority opinion, took pains to spell out that this was intentional […] “No United States Supreme Court opinion has tackled the recording of custodial interrogations. If a case did though, we would still look to our state constitution first.” […] The Hawaii Constitution’s due process clause “offers safety to Hawaii’s people that exceeds the federal constitution’s suddenly fluid protections,”
[…]
“If children can record everyday events with ease, law enforcement cannot claim hardship to record perhaps its most consequential investigative act.”
The article describes some of his other spicy rulings.
Eddins ended [another recent] opinion saying, “State constitutionalism makes it easy to consider Roberts Court jurisprudence white noise.”
[…]
Hawaii’s approach is by no means universal: Many state supreme courts prefer not to independently develop the meaning of their state constitutions’ rights and liberties. Instead, they’ve either imported federal courts’ interpretations of the U.S. Constitution (a process that is generally known as “lockstepping”) or declined to explain what their state constitution means.
birgerjohanssonsays
“Have I Got News for You S70E9 | Hannah Fry” [they have a surprisingly cool bishop]
@71 Lynna, OM: Johnson is just repeating the White House line here. Trust us, everything is OK, everything will get better next year, after the election. Don’t question the great leader and vote Republican.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries summed it up perfectly on Thursday.
“Donald Trump is fighting with Marjorie Taylor Greene. Marjorie Taylor Greene is fighting with the House Republican Conference. Corey Mills is fighting with Nancy Mace. Nancy Mace is fighting with Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson is fighting with Elise Stefanik. Elise Stefanik is fighting with Lisa McClain,” Jeffries said.
He then continued, “The whole thing is a mess. The 119th Congress has turned into a bad episode of ‘Republicans Gone Wild.’ And here’s the problem. Republicans are so busy fighting each other, they can’t be bothered to fight for the American people.”
Jeffries is being too generous. If the Republicans were organized they would be fighting against the American people but right now they are too divided to push Trump’s agenda.
Trump accepts FIFA peace prize despite ‘fuming’ over media coverage of his age. Trump received the first FIFA peace prize, finally earning the peace prize he desperately wanted. Meanwhile, he is “fuming” over media reports of his declining mental and physical health, Asawin Suebsaeng reports. He and Donna Edwards join Chris Hayes to discuss.
CDC Panel ends recommendation for newborn hepatitis B shot. Earlier today, a CDC panel voted to end the recommendation that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine, despite a 99% drop in cases since in the 30 years since it was implemented. Brandy Zadrozny joins Chris Hayes to discuss RFK Jr.’s influence on the anti-vaccination shift and what this change may mean for access to the vaccine.
Video is 9:00 minutes. This is a really good presentation.
President Trump has stamped his name on the distinct building that once housed the U.S. Institute of Peace, which DOGE commandeered and hollowed out in the early days of his term.
Trump hanging his shingle on the headquarters of an effort to globally spread diplomacy and charitable works would be ironic enough without the backstory of how his people took it over.
Back in March, DOGE stormed the building with a panoply of armed officers. FBI agents arrived unannounced at the home of the Institute’s security chief, as DOGE tried to force its way into the building. DOGE members threatened the federal contracts of all of the Institute’s ex-security contractors to get them to fork over the key.
“This conduct of using law enforcement, threatening criminal investigations, using armed law enforcement from three different agencies — the Metropolitan Police Department, Department of State security police, the FBI — to carry out Executive Order 14217 — all of that targeting, probably terrorizing, the employees and the staff at the Institute when there are so many other lawful ways to accomplish the goals,” a federal judge said in a hearing over the Institute’s seizure. “Why?”
The case is still pending at the appellate level, though the government has been granted access to the Institute in the meantime.
The building, steps away from the Lincoln Memorial and topped by sweeping, white, dove-like wings, sits as a monument to Trump’s destruction both at home and abroad — his own Ministry of Peace.
Link. The link leads to a compendium of recent news reports.
Always angry and pugnacious, LazerPig deals with the exaggerated claims that tanks have become obsolete.
“BuT tAnKs ArE oUtDaTeD bEcAusE dRoNeS!1 (re-upload)”
Shortly after American-born Robert Prevost was elected Pope, J.D. Vance and his wife stopped in to visit with the new pontiff.
In addition to a Chicago Bears shirt, Vance brought the American Pope two books by St. Augustine. This gift represented a bond between the two men: Vance chose St. Augustine as his patron saint when he converted to Catholicism, and the Pope was previously head of the worldwide Augustinian order.
It’s an open question whether Vance ever read either of the books, since Augustine spends a good amount of time lecturing against pride, encouraging humility, and preaching compassion for immigrants. But even assuming Vance still somehow clings to a highly selective edit of the saint (“An unjust law is no law at all,” means Vance can do anything he wants, right?), it looks like he’s going to have to denounce the guy in the big hat.
Because Vance’s vampire boss [Peter Thiel] says the Pope may be the Antichrist.
Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel is probably best known for three things: Company names stolen from The Lord of the Rings, trying to drain the blood of young people so he can live forever, and foisting J.D. Vance on America. But there’s another side to Thiel.
He’s not just a technofascist seeking to build an AI-fueled authoritarian surveillance state. He’s also an absolutely bonkers pseudo-religious nutcase who views everyone who stands in his way as an agent of … Satan. [!] And that includes the Pope.
Thiel has hosted a series of lectures for a very select audience in which he’s warned that the Antichrist—harbinger of the apocalypse—is in the world today, making trouble for all the good little AI billionaires. […]
People like Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, other environmental activists, AI safety advocate Eliezer Yudkowsky, anyone else who suggests regulating AIs before they destroy humanity, and people who are worried about nuclear war. […]
Thiel’s view of the Antichrist “is that of an evil king or tyrant or anti-messiah who appears in the end times”. […] this is a profoundly unbiblical concept.
Several times in the Greek versions of the gospels, there are mentions of someone being “antikhristos,” which is exactly what it sounds like: opposed to Jesus and his teaching. Another term, “pseudokhristos,” is used to describe people who spread statements falsely attributed to Jesus. In both cases, these terms are applied, not to a particular individual, but to anyone seen as interfering with the message of Christ.
The idea that the Antichrist is an evil potentate who will usher in the end of the world was created after everyone involved with the Gospels was long dead. It’s the vision of a 10th-century French monk, Adso of Montier-en-Der, who compiled centuries of speculation to turn an adjective into a title. […]
most of Adso’s biography of the Antichrist has been conveniently discarded. He was supposed to be Jewish, born in Babylon, and to rule the world from a throne in Jerusalem. But all that stuff gets in the way of lots of fun speculation and flinging an Antichrist label onto anyone you hate.
The Antichrist is also supposed to be empowered to perform all sorts of miracles and be capable of resurrecting the dead. So if a 22-year-old Swedish woman best known for shouting environmental concerns into a microphone is secretly the Antichrist, she’s been seriously holding back.
Thiel’s Antichrist obsession goes back to at least the 1990s and borrows themes from French-American philosopher René Girard to posit that the left is intrinsically anti-Christian and the natural home for the Antichrist. […]
Thiel [,,,] can’t seem to distinguish between technology and God. As The Washington Post reported, Thiel’s lectures have only grown more “intense” over recent months.
… recordings offer new detail about how the billionaire seems to place those who would critique or regulate tech developers into a religious good-vs.-evil worldview, where the future of all creation depends on giving innovators free rein.
[That’s sounds like Thiel views himself as God, or perhaps as the embodiment of the ultimate good.]
As Wired reported in September, Thiel also has some very odd notions of what’s good and what’s evil. He doesn’t just draw his thinking from Girard. He also frequently quotes Nazi attorney Carl Schmitt.
You know you live in strange times when one of the most influential billionaires in the world—an investor who lit the financial fuses on both Facebook and the AI revolution, who cofounded PayPal and Palantir and launched the career of an American vice president—starts dedicating his public appearances primarily to a set of ideas about Armageddon borrowed heavily from a Nazi jurist. (As in: the guy who rapidly published the most prominent defense of Hitler’s Night of the Long Knives.)
That Nazi is a big part of Thiel’s philosophy [!]. According to Thiel, anyone who raises doubts about the benefits of new technologies is evil. And anyone who tries to generate unity is suspect. […]
Right on target for a billionaire who has also declared that democracy and freedom are “not compatible.”
So maybe it’s not so strange that the vampire billionaire of the apocalypse has found a new potential Antichrist hiding under a big pointy white hat. Thiel has reportedly warned J.D. Vance about getting too close to “the woke American Pope” and fumed that Leo may actually be … the A-word.
This warning appears to have come after Pope Leo cautioned AI developers “to ensure that emerging technologies remain rooted in respect for human dignity and the common good.” The Pope also warned students against using AI to do their homework.
“AI can process information quickly, but it cannot replace human intelligence,” he said. “And don’t ask it to do your homework for you. It cannot offer real wisdom. It misses a very important human element.”
[…] Thiel is taking the fight right to the man he installed as America’s second-in-command in a way that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Catholics who don’t source their opinions from Nazi Germany.
[…] the main backer of the likely GOP nominee for president is accusing the Bishop of Rome of being an agent of the end times — and telling Vice President Vance to disregard the pope’s moral guidance.
For most of the billionaires hurtling the world toward AI destruction, fame and money are sufficient cause to light humanity’s last bonfire of the vanities. For Thiel, this is a religious fight. Will we have the evil that comes with peace and environmental reform, or will we enjoy God’s bounty of unregulated pollution and unchecked AI?
Either way, Thiel plans to be here to see how it turns out. If he can keep filling his veins with fresh, young blood.
In March, Donald Trump issued an executive order to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a fairly small agency that distributed federal funding to libraries and museums around the country. The order was supposedly aimed at paring back federal agencies to only cover “statutory functions” while eliminating all unneeded spending. (But a grandiose ballroom bigger than the White House itself is an absolute necessity. […])
Axing IMLS didn’t “save” a huge amount of money; in 2024, the agency issued around $266 million in grants and research funding. Most libraries get the bulk of their funding from local and state taxes. But the federal funding covers stuff like library staff training, computer networking, interlibrary loan, and special services for folks with disabilities [!] — and remember, the Trump people consider “accessibility” just as “unfair” as DEI, because why should people with disabilities take “our” tax money?
The cuts’ impact to small town and rural library systems around the country was real and nasty, since they’re more dependent on IMLS funds. Some cut back services like interlibrary loan and access to ebooks and audiobooks, which sharply reduced reading options in places where the selection of physical books was already limited.
In my state, Idaho, funding dried up for audiobooks for blind Idahoans, as well as for an early learning program that got books to kids whose homes might not have any, and for a digital program that “provides Idahoans free 24/7 access to online education, business and recreation resources.” [!!]
So now the good news: 21 states sued to block the executive order, and last month a federal court in Rhode Island ordered that the funding be restored to IMLS and six other federal agencies Trump attempted to send down the Memory Hole with his EO.
District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. wrote that Trump’s order was “arbitrary and capricious,” and that no, Donald, you do not have the power to just refuse to spend funds Congress appropriated […]
The question presented in this case is a familiar one: may the Executive Branch undertake such actions in circumvention of the will of the Legislative Branch? In recent months, this Court — along with other courts across the country — has concluded that it may not. That answer remains the same here.
And while there’s always the possibility that the administration might appeal the decision, because spending taxpayer money on lawyers is good but spending it on helping people learn things is bad, in this case, it looks like the administration intends to restore the library funding, if not necessarily the other programs. On Wednesday, the IMLS announced on its website that, “Upon further review, the Institute of Museum and Library Services has reinstated all federal grants. This action supersedes any prior notices which may have been received related to grant termination.”
[…] that sounds pretty definite. The brief notice advised grantees that they can now “access the agency’s electronic grants management system” for information on getting the money Congress wanted them to have.
[…] since it’s a case brought by states, the ruling actually applies beyond just the 21 states that sued. […]
Now all they have to contend with is the continued threat from Rightwing crusaders who want to have all the librarians arrested […] Hey, if you’re in one of the places where the documentary The Librarians is screening, check it out! It’ll probably be a top contender for Best Documentary next year. Here’s the trailer: [video]
And while you wait to see the film, check out “On The Media’s” interview with Louisiana high school librarian Amanda Jones, one of the librarians featured in the film. [https://www.wnycstudios.org/ ]
[…] Since the ceasefire came into effect on Oct. 10, 20 living hostages and the remains of 27 others have been returned to Israel. The body of the final hostage, Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has yet to be recovered despite a weekslong search effort. Israeli authorities have steadily released Palestinian prisoners and detainees — both living and dead — as part of the exchange.
Israel has repeatedly said all hostages must be returned before a Phase 2 deal, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week stressing the need for an “intensive and immediate effort” to complete the commitment.
Israel agreed to halt its assault on the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire, but flare-ups and violence have persisted, with Israeli strikes killing more than 350 people since the ceasefire began, taking the death toll in the enclave beyond 70,000, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures.
The first phase also included a commitment to expand the flow of aid into Gaza, but U.N. experts say the number of trucks permitted to enter has never reached the agreed target of 600 per day.
Israel said Gaza’s Rafah crossing in the south will soon reopen to allow Palestinians to enter Egypt, but it will not reopen the crossing in both directions — another commitment under the deal — until Gvili’s remains are returned.
And as Phase 1 sputters along, analysts warn that Phase 2 presents a host of complex challenges, from security arrangements to competing governance demands, that could slow or even stall the process.
[…] While Trump’s peace plan stipulates that Hamas will disarm, the group has reasserted control of Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire and shown no immediate signs of disarmament.
[…] Gerges [Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics] also feared that “we will never see the actual implementation of what Phase 2 is supposed to be,” adding it was “an illusion” to call what’s happening in Gaza a ceasefire, “because the Palestinians, particularly civilians, continue to be killed on a daily basis.”
“Even though the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians has improved a bit, it’s still catastrophic,” he said.
The video referenced in comment 85 relates personal stories of prisoners that include accounts of sexual assault and rape on both sides of the conflict, Palestinians and Israelis.
Donald Trump has launched a crusade to convert European politics to his cause, mobilizing the full force of American diplomacy to promote “patriotic” parties, stamp on migration, destroy “censorship” and save “civilization” from decay.
The question is whether Europe’s embattled centrists have the power, or the will, to stop him.
In its newly released National Security Strategy document, the White House set out for the first time in a comprehensive form its approach to the geopolitical challenges facing the U.S. and the world.
While bringing peace to Ukraine gets a mention, when it comes to Europe, America’s official stance is now that its security depends on shifting the continent’s politics decisively to the right. [Unfortunately true.]
Over the course of three pages, the document blames the European Union, among others, for raising the risk of “civilizational erasure,” due to a surge in immigrants, slumping birth rates and the purported erosion of democratic freedoms.
“Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less,” it says. “As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies.”
With its talk of birth rates declining and immigration rising, the racial dimension to the White House rhetoric is hard to ignore. It will be familiar to voters in Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, where far-right politicians have articulated the so-called “great replacement theory,” a racist conspiracy theory falsely asserting that elites are part of a plot to dilute the white population and diminish its influence. “We want Europe to remain European,” the document says. [!!]
“Over the long term, it is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European,” the document reads — making it “an open question” whether such countries will continue to view an alliance with the U.S. as desirable.
The policy prescription that follows is, in essence, regime change. “Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory,” the strategy document says. That will involve “cultivating resistance” [!] within European nations. In case there is any doubt about the political nature of the message, the White House paper celebrates “the growing influence of patriotic European parties” as a cause for American optimism.
In other words: Back the far right to make Europe great again.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January, European leaders have kept up a remarkable performance of remaining calm amid his provocations, so far avoiding an open conflict that would sever transatlantic relations entirely.
But for centrist leaders currently in power — like Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Keir Starmer in London and Germany’s Friedrich Merz — the new Trump doctrine poses a challenge so existential that they may be forced to confront it head-on. [!]
That confrontation could come sooner rather than later, with high-stakes elections in parts of Britain and Germany next year and the possibility of a snap national vote ever-present in France. In each case, MAGA-aligned parties — Reform U.K., the Alternative for Germany and the National Rally — are poised to make gains at the expense of establishment centrists currently in power. America, it is now clear, may well intervene to help.
[…] What is worse for leaders like Macron, Merz and Starmer is that the Trumpian analysis — that a critical mass of voters want their own European MAGA — may, ultimately, be right.
These leaders are all under immense pressure from the populist right in their own backyards. In Britain, Nigel Farage’s Reform U.K. is on track to make major gains at next year’s regional and local elections, potentially triggering a leadership challenge in the governing Labour Party that could force Starmer out.
In Paris, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally tortures Macron’s struggling administrators in parliament, while the Alternative for Germany breathes down Merz’s neck in Berlin and pushes him to take ever harder positions on migration. […]
What? Am I supposed to feel sympathy for the leader of the most evil organization in human history just because some capitalist parasite criticizes his performative “altruism?”
This is the point where I’d insert the clip of Ken Watanabe in the Godzilla movie saying “Let them fight.”
A federal judge ruled last week that the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist, had been unlawfully appointed […] As a result, the judge ordered the dismissal of the high-profile indictments against [James Comey] and [NY AG Letitia James].
[…]
one judge removed Ms. Halligan’s name from a court filing and questioned the administration’s argument that she could still hold the job. Days earlier, a magistrate judge hearing a different case had raised similar concerns
[…]
Though the administration vowed to appeal […] it has yet to do so or even seek to pause it while pursuing an appeal. […] Pressed to explain the Justice Department’s rationale, Nicholas Patterson, the senior prosecutor in court, said that his office had been instructed to continue using Ms. Halligan’s signature in court filings […] “The reasoning behind that has not been provided, your honor[“]
[…]
The [Trump admin’s Office of Legal Counsel] has told department officials that because Judge Currie’s order did not require a specific measure to be taken, like removing Ms. Halligan, she could stay even though the judge declared her appointment invalid
Southpaw (Lawyer): “If your appointment is invalid, you never had the job in the first place.”
Brian Finucane (Just Security): “This is the same Office of Legal Counsel which furnished the Murder Memo enabling the killing spree at sea.”
Rando:
“Sorry, no, that’s illegal.”
“And?”
“And you’re the Department of Justice.”
“And?”
“And so you should stop doing it!”
“And?”
Brandon Friedman (Former Obama HUD): “Laws aren’t real. They exist solely on account of buy-in from society’s participants. Once one side disengages, you no longer reside in a society based on laws. You live in a society based on power and armed force. I am begging folks to accept this so we can get moving.”
Randos
The soccer guys gave him a trophy of a bunch of hands touching the ball because Trump doesn’t play by the rules.
Isn’t that how George Costanza kept his job? Just keep showing up?
“Oh yeah, what’s the judge going to do, clarify that I specifically must be removed?”
So she is not a government employee and needs to have a contract with the government to receive compensation. She has been paid illegally. And her orders/directions to government employees have been and are only suggestions by a non-employee.
What would be the point of her remaining? If every defendant could just get their case dismissed?
It might be really funny to watch courts give her the legal equivalent of the silent treatment. “Weird, nobody signed this brief. Also I only heard a faint buzzing sound instead of an opening statement for some reason.”
Southpaw (Lawyer): “If your appointment is invalid, you never had the job in the first place.”
Akira @88:
What? Am I supposed to feel sympathy for the leader of the most evil organization in human history just because some capitalist parasite criticizes his performative “altruism?”
I choose to deplore the history of bad deeds done by (or allowed to continue) by the Catholic church, while simultaneously being appalled by billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel’s “anti-Christ” nonsense.
It’s another bleak week in the courts, which is a distressingly common thing right now. How do you feel about religious fanatics getting to lie about abortion because Jesus says it’s cool? [That’s good way to put it. Accurate.] Are you down with giving the manifestly incompetent Jeanine Pirro multiple ways to indict people, which is necessary since she sucks at it?
We do have one bright spot here: Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl—remember those conspiracy theorists?—are actually facing some consequences for their actions. […]
If you love Jesus, you can lie about the abortion pill
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that New York cannot enforce a law barring the dissemination of misinformation about the abortion pill, because freeze peach.
Anti-abortion types have touted that the abortion pill can be “reversed,” which is both wrong and dangerous. In 2019, researchers from the University of California, Davis, looked into whether progesterone could stop a medication abortion after someone has taken the first pill in the two-pill process. Out of 12 women in the study, three suffered vaginal bleeding so severe that they needed to be rushed by ambulance to a hospital. And the study authors then determined it was too dangerous to proceed, so they ended it.
But plaintiffs in the case really want to be able to tell people this is a safe and real thing women can do. [They want a license to lie … when the result may be women dying.]
Let’s face it: If this case were about anything other than abortion and conservative Christians hating it, this would be a slam dunk for New York. […]
But these plaintiffs are compelled to share lies about a supposed abortion-pill reversal process because their religion says so, and that means it’s free speech, and they get to keep doing it.
Maybe Pam Bondi will like this judge now
Remember how poor U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro kept getting no-billed by federal grand juries when she tried to bring inflated criminal charges against people scooped up in President Donald Trump’s so-called crime crackdown?
Well, she came up with a neat little trick to solve this: Go to a local grand jury instead, get an indictment, then walk that back over to federal court.
It’s unhinged, but Judge James Boasberg just signed off on it, saying that the interplay of federal and D.C. laws is complex and therefore Pirro gets to have even more bites at the apple with her wildly overcharged cases.
Funny thing is, Boasberg has been the subject of relentless attacks from Attorney General Pam Bondi. She filed an absurd ethics complaint merely because he dared to tell the administration to turn around the planes filled with detainees heading for Venezuela, and then had the gall to tell the Justice Department it can’t defy court orders. […]
Law school tuition is too damn high and it’s … the ABA’s fault?
Yes, that’s the logic of the Federal Trade Commission, but this isn’t really about tuition. It’s about the administration’s desire to replicate the recent Texas plan to cut the American Bar Association out of the law-school approval and accreditation process and instead let the state Supreme Court decide which Texas law school graduates will get admitted to the bar.
While this might sound benign, it’s scuzzy as hell. ABA accreditation provides both standardization and standards, meaning that it addresses both what law schools need to cover and at what level of quality and service. Texas’s proposal would result in nothing but fly-by-night, unaccredited law schools lobbying Texas justices to sign off on their sketchy schools.
The other problem here is that if Texas decides that students from unaccredited schools can sit for the Texas bar, those students likely could not sit for the bar in other states, which would require graduation from an ABA-accredited school. [!]
This is all part of the administration’s attack on accreditors generally, because god forbid you impose any rigor or quality on higher education. How is Trump going to have Trump University 2.0 if these stupid accreditors hang about? [LOL]
The FTC’s logic here is that since the ABA has a “monopoly” on accreditation, it has led to a shortage of lawyers, to which: lol.
The nation has over 1.3 million practicing lawyers, and the lawyer bubble has persisted for years, with law school graduates sometimes having double the unemployment rate of non-lawyers. […]
Blast from the past: Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl
Conspiracy theorists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl were everywhere in the first Trump administration, pulling the absolute weirdest stunts.
Remember when they held a press conference to falsely announce that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren had hired a 24-year-old boy toy for sex, only for said boy toy to be unable to stop laughing behind the podium? Or when Wohl went to Minneapolis to “investigate” Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar and declared the city a hellhole where he received death threats, except the threats he reported to police appeared to have been made … by him from an alt account? [They lie all the time, but never get better at lying. In this case, practice does not improve their skill.]
Burkman and Wohl also committed crimes, such as using robocalls designed to suppress Black voters during the 2020 election. The robocalls had misinformation about voting by mail, particularly that it put people in a public database that would allow police to track them down and allow credit card companies to find them and collect debts.
In a rarity for conservative activists, however, these two fucked around and found out and were prosecuted or sued in multiple jurisdictions. And they just agreed to a no-contest plea in Michigan, which netted them a year of probation, which is a lot better than New York, where they are on the hook for over $1 million in fines. [State level court decisions, so I don’t think Trump can pardon them.]
Ed Martin seemingly can’t stop deleting government records
Oh, Ed Martin. We just can’t quit you because you just can’t quit being an unethical jackass. It seems that the pardon attorney/director of the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group/special attorney […] may have a problem with concealing and destroying records.
However, since the DOJ won’t voluntarily provide records or information via Freedom of Information Act requests, watchdog organization American Oversight sued the DOJ to try to unlock these records or to confirm that Ed’s a little heavy with the delete button.
Martin has been here before. When he worked for Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, his alleged deletion habits ultimately forced the state to pay $500,000 to a lawyer who was allegedly fired after raising an issue about the office.
Martin is one of the key people helping Trump exact retribution from people he perceived as having wronged him. Of course, he’s not going to keep a paper trail—come on.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki weighed in Thursday on the discourse around Pentagon media access, calling out the new “press corps” for consisting of mostly conservative influencers.
“What is so interesting right now in Washington is what is happening with the Pentagon press corps. It actually surprised me what they did,” Psaki, now a host on MS NOW, told late-night comedian Stephen Colbert in an appearance on “The Late Show.”
“I could not get over — they had ‘the press corps,’ I’m going to put them in quotes because it includes Laura Loomer and James O’Keefe and this crew is not a real press corps.” she continued later, using air quotes. “So, this week has been quite a week, as you outlined in your monologue […] anyone watching might have questions for Pete Hegseth.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has accused the media of trying to sabotage President Trump’s agenda, revised press access rules in October. To obtain or renew a Pentagon pass, journalists are now required to sign a contract acknowledging that information from the Defense Department needs to be “approved for public release” by an official before it is reported out — “even if it is considered unclassified.” [!]
Most of the nation’s top news organizations, including Fox News and Newsmax as Psaki pointed out, declined to sign onto the new policy and have since lost access to the building.
The administration instead credentialed a number of Trump-friendly figures, including many who have never covered defense or a press briefing in person before.
Earlier this week, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson held a rare briefing as the Defense Department and Hegseth face scrutiny over rising tensions with Venezuela and strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. Among those asking questions were Loomer, O’Keefe and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). [I snipped examples.]
Psaki suggested their performance was lackluster and defended legacy media.
“They had a press briefing with them, where they could ask anything they wanted, and they made no news, no news at all, which is pretty remarkable,” she said late Thursday.
“But I will say, what’s encouraging to me at least, is all of the outlets that did not sign the pledge, that no longer have desks in the Pentagon, they have been making tons of news, they have been reporting,” Psaki added.
The New York Times announced Thursday it is suing the Defense Department for infringing on reporters’ rights with the new rules. The lawsuit argues that the updated press policy violates journalists’ First and Fifth Amendment rights and “will deprive the public of vital information about the United States military and its leadership.”
Trump, who has ramped up his attacks on the media since returning to the White House, has defended Hegseth’s decision to implement the new restrictions.
“I think he finds the press to be very disruptive in terms of world peace,” the president told reporters at the White House in October. “The press is very dishonest.” [What a load of propaganda and bullshit.]
[…]
Lordy, Trump has released a “national security strategy” manifesto and it is no mere white supremacist dog whistle, somebody freebased the Daily Stormer, pulled an [all-nighter] with Vlad Putin, and Stephen Miller did the writeup […]
It’s a brain-twizzler of doublespeak and gaslighting, the declaration of a rogue state gone mad. It describes the “Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine,” which is “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.” And then some:
Our goals for the Western Hemisphere can be summarized as “Enlist and Expand.” We will enlist established friends in the Hemisphere to control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea. We will expand by cultivating and strengthening new partners while bolstering our own nation’s appeal as the Hemisphere’s economic and security partner of choice.
Then it goes on to say this is not just the goal for the Western Hemisphere, ALL the hemispheres! North, South, East, West … wherever there be oil, gas, or minerals, the sun shall never set on Trump’s supply-chain empire.
Honk a bongload before you try to analyze this:
As the United States rejects the ill-fated concept of global domination for itself, we must prevent the global, and in some cases even regional, domination of others. This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers. The outsized influence of larger, richer, and stronger nations is a timeless truth of international relations. This reality sometimes entails working with partners to thwart ambitions that threaten our joint interests.
Donny don’t wanna dominate, but dominating the dominators for domination-thwarting is Don’s dominion!
In the Indo-Pacific, says the manifestato, the US will intervene however is needed to maintain “freedom of navigation in all crucial sea lanes, and maintaining secure and reliable supply chains and access to critical materials.”
[…] China sure has Trump by the nut-hairs with those rare earth minerals he needs for companies to deliver all of this technology he’s promising, and to keep the AI bubble floating. A tangle he got his very own self into!
But we recognize you have a choice in economic and security partners.
It’s sure not a high bar for any other country to be a more reliable anything-partner now, with this unstable felon grifter and chicken-outer at the helm. Consider polite trading with stable Canada, eh? They are reducing their defense spending with the US and have been getting closer to Europe, joining the European Defense Pact and considering swapping out a planned purchase of F-35 fighter jets for Swedish Saabs. And as to China, Canada seeks to double its non-US exports, so they’re now closer than ever. China has replaced the US as Germany’s top trading partner too! Everybody is hanging out without us.
In the Middle East, continues Trump’s decree, there also, the doctrine shall be to get involved with anything that might stand in the way of oil and gas supplies!
And Europe. This asshole has the fucking gall to mansplain Western European identity to Western Europe. The place literally being bombed and overrun right now by Democracy-hating Russian hordes. Trump, or whoever wrote this, wants to “support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe, while restoring Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity.”
Civilizational self-confidence! It is Europe that had the confidence to say FUCK YOU NO to the Trump/Witkoff/Kushner surrender-to-Russia plan. No to Prump-Tootin demanding Ukraine not join NATO, or tell NATO what to do with its forces. European countries have said NO, we’re not going to share intelligence with the US any more, and especially not if it makes us complicit in murder, and NO, we’re not going to abandon our promises to Ukraine because Trump weasels. Only one person here has a “confidence problem,” and a civility problem, the felon who signed off on this document in giant Sharpie scrawl.
Defense Department officials have said that while the US is still shipping weapons to Ukraine now, just in time for Christmas […] starting in 2027 it will no longer remain NATO’s “primary conventional defense provider,” whatever that exactly means. But sure, it’s Europe and NATO’s fault for not having the confidence that Trump would not do what he just done did […]
And how the fuck is the US entitled to any kind of fucking position to be telling NATO or Europe what to do about any got damn thing?
Yet Trump (or whatever chud wrote this) (Stephen Miller) instructs Europe that the very most important threat it faces right now is the “stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” With the immigrants and the NATO etc., though, not Russian invasion, of course.
Continental Europe has been losing share of global GDP—down from 25 percent in 1990 to 14 percent today—partly owing to national and transnational regulations that undermine creativity and industriousness. But this economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.
Europe, not known for its creativity or industriousness in, art, music, literature, theater, film, etc. [nice bit of understated humor]
[…] Won’t somebody think about the Russian propaganda bots and the poor neo-Nazis who cannot wave swastika flags on the street and sieg heil rund um die Straßen? […]
It’s not about who is European by birth or culture, but who looks the part when MAGA chuds go on package vacations there. By this paper-bag test, bad news, Kash Patel, you are not American. You either, Usha Vance. […]
[…] We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.
Have the confidence to buy our goddamn hormone-pumped beef […]
This lack of self-confidence is most evident in Europe’s relationship with Russia. European allies enjoy a significant hard power advantage over Russia by almost every measure, save nuclear weapons. As a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, European relations with Russia are now deeply attenuated, and many Europeans regard Russia as an existential threat. Managing European relations with Russia will require significant U.S. diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.
Only one side is making risk, pal. And the world has been watching the US “diplomatic engagement” playing out the past 11 months (and decade) already. After Trump tried to serve Putin breaded halibut in mayonnaise instead of chunks of Ukraine on a platter in Alaska, he has been angrier than ever, bombing Ukraine a record-breaking amount, buzzing into NATO airspace and testing the delivery systems in Russia’s nuke triad. […]
Now the Irish are investigating a group of drones that appeared in Dublin Bay in the flight path of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s plane on Monday night as he arrived for a state visit. And French military have confirmed soldiers opened fire on five suspected drones spotted over a nuclear submarine base there on Thursday night. Belgium and Denmark have had similar incursions. [Some new drone-spotting reports there.]
Anyway, hey guys, is it CIVILIZATION to invade another country? Murder 86 boaters in international waters and bomb the survivors while they cling to burning wreckage and call for help? How about gassing babies and disappearing their parents? To bomb hospitals and playgrounds with drones? Are these Western civilization-y things? Or are they more Russia or Nazi things?
How about bribery? Now that USAID is gone, the manifesto makes clear, if a foreign country wants help, they have to play by The Don’s rules, and put some sugar in America’s bowl. We have already seen how that’s been working out with El Salvador, Eswatini and such.
LOL this paragraph:
Competence and Merit – American prosperity and security depend on the development and promotion of competence. Competence and merit are among our greatest civilizational advantages: where the best Americans are hired, promoted, and honored, innovation and prosperity follow. Should competence be destroyed or systematically discouraged, complex systems that we take for granted—from infrastructure to national security to education and research—will cease to function.
[HAHAHAHAHA!]
That explains the Fox News hosts, a guy with a brain worm, Big Balls, failed beauty-queen lawyers, etc. […]
There is only one entity destroying all that is good about Western Civilization, and he’s projecting harder than Leni Riefenstahl.
Actual Western European culture is health care so you don’t go into bankruptcy over an infected tooth. Edible school lunches and drinkable school water. Sex education for everyone, and abortion and gay marriage. No death penalty. Freedom of and from religion. The birthplace of liberal arts colleges! Less air pollution, fewer pesticides, more locally sourced food. Mandated 14 weeks of maternity leave. Equal protection before the law. Respect for international borders. Honoring treaties and friendship. Coalition governments. Walkable cities. Erasmus grants. Hazelnut gelato. Spicy little mustards. A late-night kebab stand in every village. Due process. The International Criminal Court!
“Winter is coming. Not all weather offices are ready.”
“As the cold season looms, National Weather Service offices in more than half a dozen states, from Maine to Wyoming, are experiencing vacancies.”
As snow blankets a broadening swath of the United States and meteorological winter sets in, the National Weather Service remains constrained by a severe staffing shortage, despite a Trump administration commitment to refill hundreds of jobs cut by Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service.
The administration gave the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the Weather Service, permission to post 450 critical roles — seeming to acknowledge that DOGE had gone too far in a push for cuts that resulted in some 550 firings, resignations and early retirements. Back in June, National Weather Service Director Ken Graham called the ability to rehire “fantastic news” that would enable “timely and accurate forecasts and warnings.”
But months later, offices in more than half a dozen states, from Maine to Wyoming, have vacancies, according to Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO), citing the latest figures tracked by the group. The unfilled roles include meteorologists, technical experts and scientists who work to deliver accurate forecasts and warnings to communities around-the-clock.
In some locations, nearly half of the meteorologist roles were left vacant.
[…] many of these specialized and demanding jobs have historically taken up to a year to hire for […] Any shortages could put communities at risk, weather experts said.
[…] Federal hiring stalled during the 43-day government shutdown. The shortages are widespread across some of the coldest, snowiest parts of the country.
[…] Rapid City, South Dakota, the gateway to Mount Rushmore, has seven meteorologists on staff, and was short six by the last count. There were several other vacancies, including a science and operations officer — the top research position — and a senior service hydrologist, the lead on flood forecasting. Rapid City’s vacancy rate under Biden was 17 percent; under Trump it rose to 42 percent.
[…] the government shutdown might have delayed the required background checks. Even if people are hired, […] they might have the qualifications but not the institutional knowledge of those who were fired or chose to resign early this year.
[…] At an East Coast office, the first snowstorm arrived last week. The employee said his office navigated the snowfall, but that was largely because the storm proved relatively uneventful. Even then, people had to work overtime.
[…] no one has been able to give the office’s typical presentations to local emergency management services, explaining how to best respond to weather in coordination with the Weather Service. […]
“If unlawful force is being used by any law enforcement officer against any person in this city and one of our officers is there, absolutely, I expect them to intervene, or they’ll be fired,” O’Hara said […] officers may physically intervene in the case of unlawful force, they would stop short of arresting ICE agents.
[…]
Minneapolis is the latest community in the crosshairs of Trump’s mass deportation plan. […] O’Hara has directed his officers to increase their presence at Somali community centers. […] “This is where George Floyd died because of the actions of Minneapolis Police […] Our officers here have a duty to intervene,” he added, saying that duty extends “not just from law enforcement, from our own agency.”
[…]
[A civilian observer] standing guard over the mall acknowledged they’d seen police in the area as well as federal agents, but they were skeptical that MPD would intervene […] “I’ll believe it when I see it,” Villerius said. “I hope that he’s sincere and actually wants the police to be confrontational with ICE,”
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/hayes-who-is-calling-the-shots-for-a-napping-president-trump-2472605763703
Video is 8:34 minutes
The video also covers Trump’s egregiously racist comments about Somalia.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/trump-doj-set-to-seek-to-re-indict-letitia-james-on-thursday-2472604227695
For the convenience of readers, here are some links back to the previous set of 500 comments on The Infinite Thread.
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-5/#comment-2285908
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved contingency plans for what to do if an initial strike left survivors.”
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-5/#comment-2285903
Trump Intervenes Again in Honduras Vote, Alleging Fraud Without Evidence
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-5/#comment-2285900
Trump’s name was added to the exterior of the US Institute of Peace building
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-5/#comment-2285891
Putin refuses compromise in Moscow talks
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/10/01/infinite-thread-xxxvii/comment-page-5/#comment-2285882
The European Commission is adamant it has done what’s needed to address Belgium’s concerns about a financial package worth up to €210 billion to fund Ukraine’s defense against Moscow.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/he-wanted-me-killed-kelly-rips-trump-hegseth-threats-as-boat-strike-scandal-widens-2472360515582
Satire.
Hegseth responds to inspector general’s findings, flubs the meaning of ‘exonerated’
“Trump has a habit of using the word “exonerated” in ways that suggest he doesn’t know what it means. He is not alone.”
Related video at the link.
Suspect arrested in Jan. 6 pipe bomb case
“The arrest is the first known break in a five-year manhunt that has fueled intense speculation and conspiracy theories.”
Washington Post:
Wall Street Journal: “For First Time in Decades, Child Deaths Will Rise This Year”
“Almost a quarter of a million more children are projected to die in 2025 than in 2024”
Commentary from Talking Points Memo:
Link
Snippet from Wonkette news coverage:
Village People lead ‘world-class line-up’ for Trump-tinged World Cup 2026 draw
“Trump expected to receive Fifa’s new peace award”
Green Berets defend their Afghan counterparts after D.C. shooting
“The shooting of two National Guard members has prompted the Trump administration to crack down on Afghans who entered the U.S. after assisting American forces during the war.”
Rebecca Watson hits the nail on the head again:
https://skepchick.org/2025/12/blocking-out-the-sun-wont-save-us/
Good news, as reported by 11 alive:
More campaign news, as summarized by Steve Benen:
Link
Cartoon: Tom the Dancing Bug—When they came, did you speak up? Not me.
Reuters: Putin questions US punishing India for buying Russian oil
Putin is playing to the Indian crowd by talking about oil. India, like China, has little native oil so they have to buy it someplace.
India wants to buy raw resources from the resource rich Russia. They have basic goods and electronics that would sell well in Russia. They are not as willing as China to anger the entire west and/or lie about their trade. They don’t care much about what is happening in Ukraine though, their concern is the complex relations between India/Russia/China.
Russia’s major goal is convincing India to buy more oil and other resources just to get money. Putin would love to buy what they can from India. Mostly electronics because India isn’t willing to sell Russia arms and ammunition directly. As a secondary point, getting Putin out of Russia and back on the international stage works in Russia’s favor also.
It’s a complex situation but they are pretty sure to come to some sort of deals. Putin wouldn’t have gone to India if they didn’t have something lined up.
Meidas Touch:
“Trump Crashes Out at Disastrous Presser on FAKE Peace Deal!!”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ytXBQy0Aqrk
Lynna, OM @ 2
Thank you.
BTW I have forgotten which state has a literal flat-Earther as major Republican politician among all the political turbulence. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Republicans in that state do in the 2026 elections.
WIRED link
“Cloudflare Has Blocked 416 Billion AI Bot Requests Since July 1”
“Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince claims the internet infrastructure company’s efforts to block AI crawlers are already seeing big results.”
WIRED link
“FBI Says DC Pipe Bomb Suspect Brian Cole Kept Buying Bomb Parts After January 6”
“The 30-year-old Virginia resident evaded capture for years after authorities discovered pipe bombs planted near buildings in Washington, DC, the day before the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.”
Anton Petrov:
“Wow! Asteroid Bennu Discoveries Spark New Questions About Life’s Origins”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=OSwGcF5R3KM
It is nice to view science news that require us to look up from this squalid political and economic mess to issues like the origin of life.
WIRED link
“The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Is Detaining People for ICE”
“Louisiana’s hunting and wildlife authority is one of more than 1,000 state and local agencies that have partnered with US immigration authorities this year alone.”
CNN: Trump hires new architect for White House ballroom amid clashes over project
Trump wants to make the ballroom even bigger, and McCrery apparently objected. The new size isn’t clear yet but I’m guessing it will be bigger then the rest of the White House at this point.
NBC News:
New York Times:
Washington Post link
“Video shows second strike hit before survivors could flip boat, lawmakers say”
“The footage was shown on Capitol Hill, where Adm. Frank M. Bradley, who oversaw a deadly attack on alleged drug smugglers, faced a day of difficult questions about the operation.”
Supreme Court allows Texas to use new congressional district map drawn to favor Republicans
“Texas officials drew the new congressional map to help Republicans gain up to five additional seats in the House in next year’s midterm elections.”
Re: birgerjohansson @18:
Minnesota Republicans elect a flat-earther to a party leadership post (2025)
A a district’s GOP chair. Minnesota has had a solid Dem majority, and the Rs there are so bonkers, it should stay that way.
Georgia GOP Chair: I’m Not a Flat-Earther … But Globes Are a Conspiracy (2023)
Kandiss Taylor (known for “Jesus, Guns, Babies”) failed a governor run with 3.4% of the primary in 2022, and is gonna try for congress in 2026.
Aspiring lieutenant governor penned 479 page flat Earth screed (2025)
Dean Olde got 1.8% of the Lt. Gov primary in 2022. He’ll try again in 2026.
Grand jury declines to indict N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James, less than two weeks after the first case was dismissed
“Federal officials failed to secure the new indictment against James, whom Trump has targeted, after a judge said the previous one was secured by an unlawfully appointed prosecutor.”
Re JM @23:
Ooh, Witkoff could get Russian blueprints for the Chernobyl sarcophagus.
Under PZ’s post about the US Institute of Peace, I compiled an index of Infinite Thread links chronicling the takeover.
Adding to Lynna @26.
Rando 1: “So they didn’t rule on the merits, just lifted the stay? So the suit continues, but too late for 2026?”
Joshua Friedman (Atlantic): “Right!”
Rando 2:
Lawrence Hurley (NBC):
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (American Immigration Council):
NPR – Congo and Rwanda to sign symbolic peace deal in Washington as fighting rages
Gregg Gonsalves (Epidemiologist):
/Articles at the link.
Nature – Experimental vaccine prevents deadly allergic reactions in mice
Four unidentified military-style drones breached no-fly zone to target Zelenskyy’s arrival in Dublin
Commentary
The origin of the word “woman”.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1A1RFa2FoV/
Source : https://www.space.com/astronomy/scientists-discover-one-of-our-universes-largest-spinning-structures-a-50-million-light-year-long-cosmic-thread
Archaic humans were strategic and picky hunters, new study suggests.
.https://phys.org/news/2025-12-archaic-humans-strategic-picky-hunters.html
Felis Catus only arrived in China 600 AD, during the Tang dynasty. Before that, the Chinese had a commensal relationship with the small leopard cats.
“Human-cat friendship started much later than you think”
. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-human-cat-friendship.html
Kneel before your new masters, human worms!
CERN’s ATLAS detects evidence for decay of Higgs boson into muon–antimuon pair
.https://phys.org/news/2025-12-cern-atlas-evidence-decay-higgs.html
https://www.ms.now/all
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/500-tons-of-cocaine-trump-pardons-trafficker-who-helped-flood-u-s-with-drugs-2472950339615
Video is 8:29 minutes
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/maga-backlash-builds-as-gop-women-turn-on-mike-johnson-2472941635872
Video is 2:16 minutes
Sky Captain @35, quoting a commentator:
Yes, agreed. I’ve been thinking about the risks Zelensky takes. He is both dedicated and brave.
Sky Captain @33, yep. Sometimes it seems like a slow slide downhill toward catastrophe, but really this decline that will lead to institutional collapse has been quite rapid.
Sky Captain @32, so it is all just theater. Trump gets to pose as a peace maker while Congo and Rwanda continue to fight. Eventually, Trump will blame someone else for his failures in this instance. As an aside, I find it hard to characterize how much I despise Trump spouting flapdoodle and bunkum like ““a glorious triumph.”
Sky Captain @31, this is a good summary of Justice Kagan’s dissent:
Followup to comments 5 and 20.
Suspected pipe bomber told FBI he backed Trump, believed 2020 election conspiracies
“There’s no shortage of questions about Brian Cole Jr. and his actions, but some new details are coming to the fore.”
Related video at the link.
Bongino was saying, in effect: “I am an asshole, a mind boggling doofus, and you can’t trust me.”
Link. The link leads to a presentation of various, current news reports.
Reuters Exclusive: Trump administration orders enhanced vetting for applicants of H-1B visa
Trump wants to be free to spread disinformation. And he wants to admit to the USA only H-1B visa applicants who also are on his disinformation bandwagon.
Followup to comment 35.
God Awful Movies!
GAM 534 And God Made Man
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=pSga-ahzkb0
Scathing Atheist 665 Serious Vulgarities Only Edition
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=MWouazqd4FU
Cartoon: Under the rug
Rando:
Commentary
Patrick Shea (Former attorney): “Pardons don’t apply to international law. In fact, it is a violation of international law for state actors to use pardons or amnesty in an attempt to shield war criminals from justice. When the rule of law is restored, these thugs, all of them, need to be on the first flight to the Hague.”
Wikipedia – US and the International Criminal Court
Trump releases racist blueprint for the world
Dangerous. More or less Nazi-like obsession with racial purity, plus lots of Trump’s authoritarianism, plus Stephen Miller’s basic evil. Very bad indeed.
Watch ‘wartime’ House speaker drop some baffling bullsh-t
https://www.wonkette.com/p/donald-trump-isnt-some-self-aggrandizing
“Donald Trump Isn’t Some Self-Aggrandizing Tinpot Dictator! He Appoints People For That.”
“Say hello to the Donald J. Trump Institute Of Getting His Piece.”
https://www.wonkette.com/p/jd-vance-welcomes-all-jews-to-participate
“JD Vance Welcomes All Jews To Participate In Christmas”
Trump’s closure of Voice of America is coming back to bite him
“As the president threatens Venezuela, Russia and China are filling the information vacuum.”
Brad Moss (Natsec attorney): “The FBI now consists of ‘Uber for drunks’.”
MS NOW – Kash Patel ordered FBI detail to give girlfriend’s pal a lift home
Rando: “The National Security strategy could have saved everyone a lot of time if they’d just published the 14 words instead because that’s what it amounts to.”
Cheryl Rofer (Retired nuclear scientist):
Anne Applebaum (Atlantic):
Link
The Senator from North Carolina should not have to resort such tactics in order to get approved disaster recovery funds sent to his state.
Washington Post link
“The CDC’s change to hepatitis B vaccination is even worse than it seems”
“The new recommendations portend even more harmful shifts ahead.”
NBC News:
ms.now:
Politico:
CNBC:
PBS:
MS.NOW:
Wall Street Journal:
The World Cup sucks up to Trump, and it sucks
Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket):
Sky Captain @69, the banality of evil. And the surprising tendency of people to be nice to each other when face to face … no matter what the circumstances.
Lie: “We are your friends.”
Link
https://www.wonkette.com/p/letitia-james-undefeated-champ-of
Re: Lynna @70:
I’m sure the alternative was not far from their minds.
Here is a fun little distraction from the ongoing apocalypse.
Anime: Introvert guy sewing outfits for cosplay (as seen in parody made by Grimmjack)
“My Dress-Up Darling Abridged – Episode 1 (S1) ”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=bMjiwW5vYwQ
Bolts – Hawaii Supreme Court expands rights of defendants, and once again rebukes SCOTUS
The article describes some of his other spicy rulings.
“Have I Got News for You S70E9 | Hannah Fry” [they have a surprisingly cool bishop]
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=YBozFhDKvq8
@71 Lynna, OM: Johnson is just repeating the White House line here. Trust us, everything is OK, everything will get better next year, after the election. Don’t question the great leader and vote Republican.
Jeffries is being too generous. If the Republicans were organized they would be fighting against the American people but right now they are too divided to push Trump’s agenda.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/trump-accepts-fifa-peace-prize-despite-fuming-over-media-coverage-of-his-age-2473254467786
Video is 8:35 minutes
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/cdc-panel-ends-recommendation-for-newborn-hepatitis-b-shot-2473252419771
Video is 9:00 minutes. This is a really good presentation.
Link. The link leads to a compendium of recent news reports.
Cartoon: A MAGA dilemma
Always angry and pugnacious, LazerPig deals with the exaggerated claims that tanks have become obsolete.
“BuT tAnKs ArE oUtDaTeD bEcAusE dRoNeS!1 (re-upload)”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=PN0SdVDj-oc
Britain: A Different Bias
“Nigel Farage throws his deputy Tice under bus as racism scandal deepens”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=QE3JrrAzAeo
Vampire Billionaire Attacks Pope
https://www.wonkette.com/p/tyrant-judge-orders-trump-to-restore
Gaza ceasefire talks are at a ‘critical moment’ as questions remain for second phase
Related video at the link.
The video referenced in comment 85 relates personal stories of prisoners that include accounts of sexual assault and rape on both sides of the conflict, Palestinians and Israelis.
Followup to comment 52.
https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-european-elections/
@ 83
What? Am I supposed to feel sympathy for the leader of the most evil organization in human history just because some capitalist parasite criticizes his performative “altruism?”
This is the point where I’d insert the clip of Ken Watanabe in the Godzilla movie saying “Let them fight.”
NYT – Halligan Continues as U.S. Attorney
Southpaw (Lawyer): “If your appointment is invalid, you never had the job in the first place.”
Brian Finucane (Just Security): “This is the same Office of Legal Counsel which furnished the Murder Memo enabling the killing spree at sea.”
Rando:
Brandon Friedman (Former Obama HUD): “Laws aren’t real. They exist solely on account of buy-in from society’s participants. Once one side disengages, you no longer reside in a society based on laws. You live in a society based on power and armed force. I am begging folks to accept this so we can get moving.”
Randos
Sky Captain @89, this part bears repeating:
Akira @88:
I choose to deplore the history of bad deeds done by (or allowed to continue) by the Catholic church, while simultaneously being appalled by billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel’s “anti-Christ” nonsense.
Jury-shopping with Jeanine, and abortion-pill liars get a pass, plus more.
Psaki: Loomer, O’Keefe covering Pentagon ‘not a real press corps’
Followup to comments 52 and 58.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-has-a-new-world-domination
Washington Post link
“Winter is coming. Not all weather offices are ready.”
“As the cold season looms, National Weather Service offices in more than half a dozen states, from Maine to Wyoming, are experiencing vacancies.”
MS NOW – Minneapolis police chief warns officers: Stop unlawful force by ICE or lose your job
Holocene impact
Previously Unknown 1 km Wide Jinlin Impact Crater in South China and Why It’s So Exciting
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=aqutR88gwdY