"Cracks Are Emerging," But Can We Capitalize On It?

 

Simon Rosenberg, in his "Hopium Chronicles," surveys the damage done by Trump and his co- President:

... I don’t know how the Trumpian fever breaks, how the madness subsides, and how we return to the Constitutional order and the America we and the world has known for generations. It’s clear that in these early days Democrats have not yet found their voice on the extremism and danger of Trump - his alliance with Putin, his abandonment of Europe and Ukraine, his “off with their heads” tariffs, his unconstitutional and illegal dismantling of the US government including our global and domestic public health systems, his clear and worsening madness. Our early, narrow focus on costs and the terrible GOP budget while tactically sound, are strategically insufficient as Trump and Musk rip apart the global order and our own government in ways that will be very hard, if not impossible, to put back together. Some of the damage being done right now to what I call the America of the Four Freedoms is irreparable, which is why in the coming weeks our leaders - all of them - must work harder to find their voice on this assault and do everything they can to stop it... 

Reflect on that litany of shame again.  In just a few weeks, the transatlantic alliance that has held since 1949 has been ended and Trump has aligned the U.S. with his patron and overseer Putin;  he's installed loyalists in key positions in government, including the Pentagon, intelligence agencies, FBI and Justice, who will do his bidding without question;  and his un- elected, ketamine- fueled South African billionaire co-President has been chainsawing vital government agencies, with more catastrophic damage to come.

We wonder if the leaders we have are up to that challenge, having never faced an existential black swan event the likes of Trump and his fascist coup before.  The disorienting, fast- moving chaos caught most of those leaders flat- footed, even though Trump has been telling everyone what he would do if given a second chance at power.  We'll say it again: we need better leaders who are imaginative, forceful, and proactive fighters (we noted a few here).

But Rosenberg's enterprise is called "Hopium Chronicles," so he goes on to outline the signs of hope he sees in the struggle:

My point today, on this the last day of February, just five weeks into the terrible new Trump era, is that cracks in Trumpism are emerging. He is making mistakes, huge mistakes. Public opinion is becoming more hostile to what he is doing. His economic strategy is hurting the country and people understand this. Republicans are aware their emerging budget strategy is a betrayal of working people and could drive down their standing even further. The courts keep delivering wins, and our 23 Dem state AGs have become a formidable force. Americans are waking up to what is happening, and we are seeing a growing citizen-led opposition movement spread across the country. Folks are outraged and pissed, as they should be...

There's more at the link worth reading and reflecting on.  We continue to believe ours is a bottom up struggle, and that, as Rosenberg says, little cracks can become big cracks as long as we, all of us, work harder and don't give up or give in to despair or defeatism.  We believe the outrage that's evident in the streets and in the town halls recently are signs that, as Rosenberg says, people are restive and waking up.  That's likely to grow.  But, remember, how you deal with these bullies is to get in their faces and do it "the Chicago way."

As we've always said, hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

Probationary Employees' Firing Likely Illegal

 

Co-President and fascist Elon "Dick" Musk's ready-fire-aim approach to mass firings of probationary Federal employees was temporarily halted by a Federal District judge yesterday. From the Associated Press:

"U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees, including at the Department of Defense.

'OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe,' to hire or fire any employees but its own, Alsup said.

The complaint filed by five labor unions and five nonprofit organizations is among multiple lawsuits pushing back on the administration’s efforts to shrink a workforce that Trump has called bloated and sloppy. Thousands of probationary employees have already been fired, and his administration is now aiming at career officials with civil service protection." (our emphasis)

Musk and his young DOGE-bag acolytes apparently saw "probationary" as a pejorative term indicating bad performers, rather than it meaning that the employee has been with the Federal government for less than two years. OPM's communications going out to those employees falsely suggested they were being terminated due to poor performance. In fact, the stories of exceptional employees being fired over that falsehood are growing. 

It's another monumental screw up led by the South African skipping dipshit megalomaniac, who has managed to fire ebola control workers at USAID, managers of the nuclear weapons stockpile at the Department of Energy, and recent FAA hires for radar and navigational maintenance, only to scramble to call them back to duty. 

(photo: Musk's Nazi salute at the Malignant Fascist's inauguration. Angela Weiss/AFP via GettyImages)

What Resistance Looks Like, Cont. -- Blackout Today

 

We heard about this earlier this week through a neighbor:

A grassroots organization is encouraging U.S. residents not to spend any money Friday as an act of “economic resistance” to protest what the group's founder sees as the malign influence of billionaires, big corporations and both major political parties on the lives of working Americans.

The People's Union USA calls the 24 hours of spending abstinence set to start at midnight an “economic blackout,” a term that has since been shared and debated on social media. The activist movement said it also plans to promote weeklong consumer boycotts of particular companies, including Walmart and Amazon.

Other activists, faith-based leaders and consumers already are organizing boycotts to protest companies that have scaled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and to oppose President Donald Trump's moves to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies. Some faith leaders are encouraging their congregations to refrain from shopping at Target, one of the companies backing off DEI efforts, during the 40 days of Lent that begin Wednesday. [snip]

The planned blackout is scheduled to run from 12 a.m. EST through 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday. The activist group advised customers to abstain from making any purchases, whether in store or online, but particularly not from big retailers or chains. It wants participants to avoid fast food and filling their car gas tanks, and says shoppers with emergencies or in need of essentials should support a local small business and try not to use a credit or debit card...

Some of you might not believe in actions like this since they could have an impact, however slight, on the labor market, or because the impact is likely to be limited.  It's also likely the blackout will be felt more in bluer parts of the country.  Here's one viewpoint:

Anna Tuchman, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, said she thinks the economic blackout will likely make a dent in daily retail sales but won't be sustainable.

“I think this is an opportunity for consumers to show that they have a voice on a single day," she said. ”I think it’s unlikely that we would see long-run sustained decreases in economic activity supported by this boycott.”

Tuchman's point about giving voice to "the resistance" is the more compelling one for us. You don't need to support all the positions of some of the organizers to participate (it's a broad left coalition, so "it's complicated"), or believe it's sustainable.  But if you do decide to take off one day from spending money (or later to boycott some of the more egregious knee- bending companies), maybe you'll be making a difference, like dropping a pebble in the water.

"Clubbing People"

Yesterday's first cabinet meeting in the Malignant Fascist's second regime was both telling and bizarre. Skipping dipshit co-President and South African transplanted fascist megalomaniac Elon "Dick" Musk held the floor while the MF's sycophantic cabinet sat silently, with only brief interjections from the MF himself who didn't want to be upstaged by his arrogant co-President.  Salon.com's Brian Karem has details:

"Trump’s first Cabinet meeting was everything you’ve come to expect from Donald Trump: pandering, applause, lies, smiles, accolades, guest appearances, compliments, wrapped up in a tight package of blaming former president Joe Biden as the cause of everything wrong on the planet. 'They spent money like nobody had before,' we were told. And while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the first death from measles in the United States in the last decade, I half expected Trump to blame Biden and the Democrats for that. Otherwise, there was very little substance in Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. [snip]

The applause offered for Musk in the Cabinet meeting was enthusiastic on the part of some, perfunctory by others and non-existent in at least one case. Behind the scenes, some members of the Cabinet are not as joyous as they pretend to be about Musk’s attendance, let alone his participation in government." (our emphasis)

Musk's silly and obnoxious "what did you do last week" memo to the entire Executive Branch (and, cluelessly, even some employees of the Judicial Branch) prompted an earlier pushback by some of the attendees in the Cabinet meeting, who nevertheless remained quiet and docile yesterday. Karem continues:

"On Saturday, Musk sent an email to millions of federal workers asking, “What did you do last week?” The Trump/Musk twins, or the Musk/Trump partners – take your pick — have given many reasons for the email. Trump told Musk to be more aggressive in cleaning out deadwood in the government and Musk used that as an impetus to send the email and tell government workers they’d be fired on Monday if they didn’t answer it. Some sued, some sent smart aleck responses and some refused to answer the email.

'No one knew about that,' a senior white house official told me. 'We are in charge of our agencies, not Mr. Musk. We haven’t even had time to evaluate our staff. You can’t just walk in with a baseball bat and start clubbing everyone.'”  (our emphasis)

Then there was the spectacle of quack health guru and anti-vaxx proponent RFK, Jr., downplaying the growing measles outbreak in Texas, soon to be visited on your community. From NBC News: 

"Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday appeared to downplay the seriousness of the West Texas measles outbreak that has killed a school-age child.

The child’s death, the first from the disease in a decade in the United States, was confirmed by Katherine Wells, director of public health at the health department in Lubbock, Texas. The child had not been vaccinated against the measles. [snip]

'We are following the measles epidemic every day,' Kennedy said during a meeting with President Donald Trump’s cabinet at the White House. 'Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year. In this country last year there were 16. So, it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.'”

"Downplaying" outbreaks seems to be in the MF's tradition of lying that an viral outbreak will go away, that cost hundreds of thousands of American lives during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the MF's minimizing and bungling of the crisis.

(illustration: fluxpro.art)

 

Chaos, Vengeance, And Incompetence Reign In Trump's Dystopia

 

Let's take a quick run through a few news items to see how chaos, vengeance, and incompetence reign in the moron madman's dystopia.

President Elon "Dick" Musk's dick-tat to federal workers

Elon Musk, President Donald Trump's point person to root out what he says is government waste, on Monday renewed his threat to fire federal workers who do not comply with his demand to justify their jobs, even after the Trump administration said workers did not have to respond.

The U.S. agency that oversees federal employees said on Monday they could ignore a weekend email from Musk that required them to summarize their work or face losing their jobs. The directive sparked widespread confusion across the federal government and raised questions about how much actual authority Musk, the world's richest man, possesses within the administration.

 

As the deadline for response grew near on Monday, Musk, whom Trump appointed to head up a newly named Department of Government Efficiency that Trump has tasked to radically downsize the government, seemed to acknowledge that his plan had run aground.

 

"The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!" Musk posted on X, the social media site he owns. "Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers."

 

Musk went on to say, "Subject to the discretion of the president, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination."

 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk's remarks.

 

It was unclear whether Musk was aware of the guidance the U.S. Office of Personnel Management released earlier on Monday telling human resources officials at federal agencies that employees would not be let go for not replying to Musk's email - nor were staff required to respond to it...  (our emphasis)

The unelected, ketamine-crazed oligarch is running the executive branch because of the ignorance, weakness, and sloth of the golf- playing Malignant Fascist.  One agency had to warn that the information provided could be read by "malign foreign actors" (not including Musk, we presume). The fool even sent his emails to employees of the judicial branch, over which he has less than zero authority.  Apparently, Dick wants to use AI to "read" the employee responses, for his own self- serving ends, no doubt.  But don't count on him being reined in soon.

 

"God has a plan" for fired workers!

Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) gave cold comfort to federal workers who have been laid off under President Donald Trump by telling them that the loss of their jobs is part of God’s plan.

After taking office last month, Trump named billionaire Republican donor Elon Musk to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which has been laying off scores of workers and freezing spending appropriated by Congress. Musk has claimed the pseudo-agency has “saved” $55 billion, but an analysis by The Washington Post found that this number is wildly inflated.

On Monday, Alford became the latest lawmaker to get an earful.

“Just because you have a government job doesn’t mean it’s a lifetime appointment like a Supreme Court,” Alford said at a town hall in Belton, Missouri, according to The St. Joseph News-Press. “So I would encourage anyone who finds themselves in this situation to realize that we are going to get this economy turning again. There are jobs available. God has a plan and purpose for your life.”

The line did not go over well with the crowd.

“We don’t want your God!” a woman yelled while another exclaimed, “Our God is Christian!”...

Alford's god is a Golden Calf (or, more precisely, a Golden Ass).

The Associated Press and the Gulf of Mexico

A tweet posted by Ed Martin, President Donald Trump’s nominee and the current interim acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, raised alarms among observers across the partisan political aisle Monday afternoon for his comments about the president’s ongoing dispute with the Associated Press.

Among Trump’s first-day flurry of executive orders was one that purported to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and to change the name of North America’s highest peak from Denali back to Mount McKinley, but the AP is only on board for the latter, citing the scope of U.S. presidential authority and its status as an international news organization as the rationale behind how it would identify both places.

The Trump administration has continued to bar AP reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and other official White House events.

On Friday, the AP filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against three Trump administration officials: White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. The complaint specifically objected to the White House ordering the wire service to use specific words in its reporting and stated that it had filed suit “to vindicate its rights to the editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution and to prevent the executive branch from coercing journalists to report the news using only government-approved language.”

Martin’s tweet, posted by the official account for the U.S. Attorney in D.C., included the following statement:

As President Trumps’ lawyers, we are proud to fight to protect his leadership as our President and we are vigilant in standing against entities like the AP that refuse to put America first.

Martin is another one of those MAGAt cultists like Bondi, Patel, and Bongino who are soiling the Department of Justice.  He'll be in charge of prosecuting anyone or anything under his purview who is exercising their Constitutional rights (or not, if you're a Republican who likes to assault women).

Trump forgets his lines, will have to clarify

President Donald Trump was incorrect when he said that Russia will accept European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, the Kremlin signaled Tuesday.

While Trump said Monday during a White House meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron that he had "specifically asked" Russian President Vladimir Putin about peacekeepers and that Putin "has no problem with it," the Kremlin contradicted those comments early Tuesday.

When asked about Trump's remarks in a media call, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "the Russian foreign minister has already said everything about it, I've got nothing to add."

Peskov was referring to comments Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made last week in a news conference following talks in Saudi Arabia with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Lavrov said that “the deployment of troops ... [from] NATO countries, but under a foreign flag, under the flag of the European Union or under national flags ... is, of course, unacceptable to us.”...  (our emphasis)

He needs a teleprompter feed from the Kremlin in future meetings so as not to bungle his/Russia's position.  Putin might need to get another Charlie McCarthy if this keeps up.

"We Didn't Elect Democrats To Become Collaborators" (UPDATED)

 

From the Associated Press (currently suing officials of the Malignant Fascist's regime for First Amendment violations) on the Malignant Fascist's White House dinner for governors:

"[Michigan Governor Gretchen] Whitmer said she sat next to Trump at a White House dinner on Saturday night.

'I was the only Democrat at the table. I was a little surprised. I think everyone in the room was a little surprised, to be honest,”'she said. 'But I took the opportunity to talk a little bit about tariffs.'" (our emphasis)

Are you proud of that, Governor? It likely means you're going to be the target of a brief MF charm offensive, followed by threats to comply. The article continues:

"At discussion panels and news conferences at the meetings, state leaders struck a conciliatory tone.

'We always hope that people can disagree in a way that elevates the discourse and tries to come to a common solution,' said Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, the association’s chair, when asked about the Trump-Mills exchange. 'I don’t think that disagreement was necessarily a model of that,' he said.   [snip]

'We’re not going to sit idly by and let our rights be attacked,' [NY Governor Kathy Hochul] said. 'We’ll work with you when there’s common ground, no doubt about it, let’s build great projects and infrastructure. There’s areas where we’re going to work with you on immigration and getting the violent criminals off our streets....'"  (our emphasis)

Conciliatory tone?  Their bending the knee is cowardice, as the MF starts to dismantle the Government they rely on for assistance, throwing their constituents out of work, not to mention the MF's other assaults on democracy. 

At least there were some signs of resistance:

"Hundreds of miles from Washington, another 2028 contender took a different direction.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, in his State of the State address on Wednesday, compared the Trump administration to the Nazi movement and criticized members of his own party, declaring, 'Going along to get along does not work.'

Pritzker’s response resonated with some key voters.

'We didn’t elect Democrats to become collaborators with our oppressors,' said Lori Goldman, founder of 'Fems for Dems,”'a Michigan-based group focused on voter turnout.

'We are beyond angry and we are organizing against Democrats that sell us out,' she said."  (our emphasis)

Take note of these Dem Governors who, after the MF attacked one of their own for her stand on transgender rights, met and dined with the MF, who has zero intention of working with them on anything that doesn't benefit him. Sell outs need to get voted out. 

UPDATE:  This jackass, who took the ranking member position that AOC should've had on the House Oversight Committee --

Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said government workers should comply with an Elon Musk order that is being disputed by others. [snip]

The pro-compliance message echoed continuing weakness from Democratic leaders in response to Trump and Musk’s disruptive and bigoted actions in the executive branch. The party has provided key congressional votes for some of Trump’s nominees and has not deployed the full arsenal of legislative tools that are available to slow down Trump’s actions...

What a disaster for the people of the 11th Congressional District in Virginia.

Man-Baby Musk To Federal Workers: Respond Or Else!

 

The chaotic, destructive mis-rule of ketamine-fueled, chainsaw-wielding, multi-billionaire co-President Elon "Harry Bolz" Musk has reached a new low:

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been given little more than 48 hours to explain what they accomplished over the last week, sparking confusion across key agencies as billionaire Elon Musk expands his crusade to slash the size of federal government.

Musk, who serves as President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting chief, telegraphed the extraordinary request on his social media network on Saturday.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted on X, which he owns. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

Shortly afterward, federal employees — including some judges, court staff and federal prison officials — received a three-line email with this instruction: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.”

The deadline to reply was listed as Monday at 11:59 p.m., although the email did not include Musk’s social media threat about those who fail to respond.

The latest unusual directive from Musk’s team injects a new sense of chaos across beleaguered multiple agencies, including the National Weather Service, the State Department and the federal court system, as senior officials worked to verify the message’s authenticity Saturday night and in some cases, instructed their employees not to respond...

The hundreds of thousands of people who work for the federal government don't need this level of puerile threat and aggravation from an un-elected, clueless, "on the spectrum" (Musk's description) multi- billionaire raised in apartheid South Africa.  This is in no way practical or helpful (can you imagine the time and effort needed for Musk and his Muskrats to sift through and absorb hundreds of thousands of email responses?).  Rather, this has the odor of an impetuous whim that, given a second thought, should have been nipped in the bud.

Oh, and what did Musk get done last week, in addition to sending out this useless, morale-busting email?  He showed up at NutPac with a chainsaw to symbolize his carefully thought out approach to government (and btw his personal life).  The idea that this "idiot" (his father's one time assessment) is chaotically chainsawing government-- and through the lives of countless Americans -- as the deranged Malignant Fascist's (a.k.a., "FSB Agent Krasnov"?) un-elected co-President is one of the biggest disgraces, and most dangerous acts, so far in this nascent klepto-kakistocratic coup.

BONUS:  Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) has the proper "GFY" response:

This is a good opportunity for mass civil disobedience. Musk has no authority to do this. Encourage all federal employees to report to work, prepare GFY letters and continue to demonstrate the public service and patriotism he lacks. https://t.co/ftIsk6lKzL

— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) February 22, 2025

BONUS II:  LGM's Paul Campos notes --

Elon Musk is still trying to get a Delaware court to approve a $100 billion — that’s billion, not million — compensation package for what he does at Tesla, which appears to be quite literally “nothing.”

(Photo:  Harry Bolz at CPAC NutPac, with Argentina's Trump, Javier Milei, cheering him on.)

Air Traffic Controllers Fired By Musk/Trump

 

The reckless wave of Federal employee firings by fascist co-Presidents Elon Musk and the Malignant Fascist are continuing with news of incomprehensibly foolish firings of FAA air traffic controllers, which began on Friday. From the Associated Press:

"The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal mid-air collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Probationary workers were targeted in late night emails Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement.

The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told the Associated Press. The air traffic controller was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Spero said messages began arriving after 7 p.m. on Friday and continued late into the night. More might be notified over the long weekend or barred from entering FAA buildings on Tuesday, he said.

The employees were fired 'without cause nor based on performance or conduct,' Spero said, and the emails were 'from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email address' — not a government email address." (our emphasis)

Overtaxed and overworked air traffic controllers represent a dire threat to air travel safety. Staff shortages have plagued the profession for many years, as burnout and turnover took their toll.

Just days ago, the Musk wrecking crew fired hundreds of workers in the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Safety Administration, not bothering to check on the responsibilities of that office to safeguard our nuclear stockpile. Now, the morons are trying to figure out how to reach the workers to undo the firings.

 (photo: Recovery crews work in Potomac River waters near DCA. Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images)

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

French President Emmanuel Macron called leaders from key European Union nations and the United Kingdom to his ornate Elysee Palace on Monday for an emergency meeting on how to react to the U.S. diplomatic blitz on Ukraine, which left the once rock-solid partner as a potential political liability.

The first visit by top U.S. officials to Europe has left the impression that the Trump administration was ready to embrace the Kremlin while it cold-shouldered many of its age-old European allies.

Despite belligerent warnings for months ahead of Donald Trump’s reelection as U.S. president, EU leaders publicly ignored the ominous forebodings and somehow hoped Trump would stand side by side with Europe, while the continent would finally start to act on beefing up its defenses and become less reliant on the firepower of Washington.

But a flurry of speeches by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during their initial visits to Europe last week questioned both Europe’s security commitments and its fundamental democratic principles. Macron said their stinging rebukes and threats of non-cooperation in the face of military danger felt like a shock to the system.  

The tipping point came when Trump decided to upend years of U.S. policy by holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in hopes of ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Then, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia on Saturday all but ruled out the inclusion of other Europeans in any Ukraine peace talks...

The good news is Europe's leading countries are getting their act together on Ukraine and other security issues.  The bad news is that it took "a flurry of speeches" to shock them into believing what the Malignant Fascist has been doing and saying for years.  The era of wishful thinking is, hopefully, past.  Sadly, now that the Malignant Loser is aligning the U.S. with Putin's Russia, it's going to be up to Europe to stand in the breach. They'll never be able to trust the U.S. again.  Sic transit gloria, America.

The bad:

The Trump administration carried out more mass firings across the Health and Human Services Department this weekend, continuing a chaotic purge of the federal workforce that career officials and lawmakers warned would hurt key programs and impair efforts to track threats to public health.

The cuts hit staffers at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, several people with knowledge of the firings told POLITICO. The administration also terminated some staff at the office responsible for emergency preparedness and response.

The firings were part of a culling of roughly 3,600 probationary employees across the sprawling department that began earlier this week with terminations primarily at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health.

Trump officials on Friday cast the layoffs imposed by billionaire Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency as methodical decisions meant to spare HHS’ core functions. Yet those inside the agencies disputed that portrayal over the weekend, describing deep cuts that at times seemed indiscriminate — with even some Trump political appointees unaware which of their employees were being fired or why.

Those cuts included officials working on Medicare and Medicaid initiatives aimed at improving care for beneficiaries at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and at the CMS office that oversees Obamacare, as well as officials at the FDA offices that regulate prescription drugs and medical devices. The layoffs at FDA included some staff who review medical device products, three of the people with knowledge of the firings said, raising fears they would slow the agency’s ability to evaluate and approve new devices.

HHS’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response was also hit, prompting sharp criticism from public health experts who warned it would damage the government’s frontline response to threats like bird flu. The administration is already expected to eliminate most of the CDC's public health fellows — some of whom received termination notices this weekend — including fellows at the Laboratory Leadership Service who do public health research, according to a former HHS official...

What we're seeing at HHS is being repeated at other critical departments and agencies throughout the federal government, as the Malignant Fascist and President Musk --two peabrains in a pod -- continue their nihilistic, mindless rampage.  Get ready for a wild ride this tax season, by the way!  "Move fast and break things" is their mantra, and the American public their victims. 

The ugly:

New York State Police charged five people Friday with murder in the killing of a missing man who authorities said died following repeated acts of violence and torture for more than a month by multiple individuals who later discarded his body in a field.

The victim, Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man originally from Minnesota, was reported missing on Feb. 9. Police said he arrived in New York in September and had lost contact with loved ones.

Major Kevin Sucher, commander of the state police troop that includes the Finger Lakes region, said the facts and circumstances of the case were “beyond depraved” and “by far the worst” homicide investigation the office has ever been part of.

“No human being should have to endure what Sam endured,” he said, during televised news conference. Police did not share many details of the case, noting it remained under active investigation. 

When asked if Nordquist’s torture and death were considered a hate crime, Capt. Kelly Swift the New York State Police Troop E’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation said police hadn’t ruled it out but stressed the investigation was continuing. Investigators also need to determine Nordquist’s relationship with the suspects as well as the suspects’ relationships with one another.  

Those arrested include Precious Arzuaga, 38, and Patrick Goodwin, 30, of Canandaigua, New York; Kyle Sage, 33, of Rochester, New York; Jennifer Quijano, 30, of Geneva, New York; and Emily Motyka, 19, of Lima, New York. All five were charged with second-degree murder after police on Thursday searched a room at the Patty’s Lodge motel in Canandaigua, the last place Nordquist was known to be staying.

All five were being held in police custody, pending arraignment. It was unclear whether any had obtained an attorney.

The investigation has so far revealed a “deeply disturbing pattern of abuse” that ultimately resulted in Nordquist’s death, said Swift, who called it “one of the most horrific crimes” she has ever investigated in her 20-year law enforcement career.

"Beyond depraved" and "horrific crime," says it.  Also, pure evil.

What Did You Do In "Civil War II"?

 

Steve M., writing at his "No More Mister Nice Blog," reflects on the "strategy" of some "fossilized" Democratic leaders, living in a world that no longer exists, to try to choose this or that battle rather than fight every fascist attack on America (even on politically unpopular foreign aid, represented by USAID).  A blogger not known for hyperbole, he tells us --

"...We're in an all-out war to salvage what's left of America. The war can end one of two ways: with Donald Trump and his henchmen laying waste to our system of government, or with an effective fight on many fronts that pushes the totalitarians back, limits the damage they do, and begins the process of restoring what we had. If Trump's people win, it won't matter whether you chose this battle or that battle or a whole series of battles -- you'll be marked as a traitor. But if the good guys win, what people will remember is that you fought -- wherever and however you fought.

"This is the central battle of our times. One way or the other, the first sentence of every prominent political figure's obituary will tell what that person did or didn't do in either the glorious Trump Revolution or the traitorous Trump Rebellion. So, yes, defend USAID. People won't look back on this and think, 'Eeeuww, Democrats defended foreign aid!"'They'll think: Trump seized absolute across-the-board power, and these Democrats put up a fight. If Trump wins, they'll see that as treason. If he loses, they'll see it as heroism. [snip]

"Everyone in the Democratic Party needs to see the big picture: that Trump is laying waste to every institution in our political order, that he won't stop when he's consolidated his gains because he's addicted to the process of generating headlines and owning the libs, and that he's not doing this with any understanding of when he might have threatened his own standing with his recklessness. At the end of all this, he'll either preside triumphantly over a diminished pariah nation or he'll be defeated through irregular means -- popular unrest, lawsuits, or something more violent -- not through committee hearings or legislative horse trading. Democrats have to act with the big picture in mind. There's no possibility now that Democrats can win one battle or one lawsuits and restore normality..."  (our emphasis)

He goes on to repeat Norman Ornstein's actions for Senate Democrats to take to gum up the works now to the extent possible (deny unanimous consent, don't allow committees to meet, filibuster every bill and confirmation, etc).  But that's only one front in what he rightly refers to as "Civil War II."  As he puts it in the last paragraph, the Malignant Fascist will only "be defeated through irregular means" that go beyond what happens in the Senate or House.  We need to organize for that eventuality as individual citizens.

Even if you're feeling overwhelmed after the barrage of the last few weeks (and that's how they want you to feel), it's important to do whatever you can do to resist (and get like-minded friends and family to get involved), even if it's just calling your Representative or Senators ((202) 224-3121) to register your feelings about what the MF and his co-President Musk are doing.  Democratic Reps and Senators especially need to hear from you, to let them know that you expect them to resist, not cooperate with, the nazification of America.

We offered some other actions here, where you can fight back and feel better.

(Photo:  David Ramos/ Getty Images)

Fight Back, Feel Better

 

The whole point of the Trump/ Musk assault on American democratic institutions in the weeks since January 20 has been to overwhelm their opponents, to create a sense of inevitability and momentum while they illegally and un-Constitutionally remake the government into an authoritarian state to benefit the oligarchs and Christofascists. And they have allies -- exhaustion and disillusionment.  We understand;  we had to take a lengthy break after the election ourselves.  But we found that, once we recharged, we personally felt better doing something rather than nothing, no matter how insignificant a contribution to the resistance we might make.  

If you're already engaged in resisting the assault on our democratic institutions in whatever fashion suits you, you're a true patriot.  But whether you are or aren't ready to engage just yet, we can relay some ideas on what we can all do to fight back in this moment, to stop or slow the momentum of the Trump/ Musk coup, and to exert the agency of the nearly 75 million of us who didn't vote for a fascist, authoritarian takeover.  The pushback on the Trump/ Musk tariffs on our neighbors may have forestalled a ruinous trade war, Trump's latest harebrained idea to "take over Gaza" is even getting resistance from some of his cowering minions, and resistance to the Musk tech tot government computer break-ins is mounting.  Always keep in mind, we're resisting incompetents here, who are getting more and more unpopular as their sabotage continues.

Former Labor Department Secretary Robert Reich had a practical set of 10 recommendations for resisting the Trump/ Musk fascism.  Here are a few of them (more at the link):

Protect the decent and hardworking members of your communities who are undocumented or whose parents are undocumented

... One of Trump’s new executive orders allows Ice to arrest undocumented immigrants at or near schools, places of worship, healthcare sites, shelters and relief centers – thereby deterring them from sending their kids to school or getting help they need.

If you trust your mayor or city manager, check in with their offices to see what they are doing to protect vulnerable families in your community. Join others in voluntary efforts to keep Ice away from schools, hospitals and shelters.

Organize and mobilize your community to support it as a sanctuary city, and to support your state as a sanctuary state. Trump’s justice department is already launching investigations of cities and states that go against federal immigration orders, laying the groundwork for legal challenges to local laws and forcing compliance with the executive branch. Your voice and organizing could be helpful in fighting back...

Protect LGBTQ+ members of your community

Trump may make life far more difficult for those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and of other expansive identities through executive orders, changes in laws, alterations in civil rights laws or changes in how such laws are enforced.

His election and his rhetoric might also unleash hatefulness by bigoted people in your community.

I urge you to work with others in being vigilant against prejudice and bigotry, wherever it might break out. When you see or hear it, call it out. Join with others to stop it. If you trust your local city officials, get them involved. If you trust your local police, alert them as well.

Participate or organize boycotts of companies that are enabling the Trump regime, starting with Elon Musk’s X and Tesla, and any companies that advertise on X or on Fox News

Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of consumer boycotts. Corporations invest heavily in their brand names and the goodwill associated with them. Loud, boisterous, attention-getting boycotts can harm brand names and reduce the prices of corporations’ shares of stock.

To the extent you are able, fund groups that are litigating against Trump

Much of the action over the next months and years will be in the federal courts. The groups initiating legislation that I know and trust include the American Civil Liberties Union, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Defense Fund and Common Cause.

Push for progressive measures in your community and state

Local and state governments have significant power. Join groups that are moving your city or state forward, in contrast to regressive moves at the federal level. Lobby, instigate, organize and fundraise for progressive legislators. Support progressive leaders.

Keep the faith. Do not give up on America

Remember, Trump won the popular vote by only one and a half points. By any historical measure, this was a squeaker. In the House, the Republicans’ five-seat lead is the smallest since the Great Depression. In the Senate, Republicans lost half of 2024’s competitive Senate races, including in four states Trump won.

America has deep problems, to be sure. Which is why we can’t give up on it – or give up the fights for social justice, equal political rights, equal opportunity and the rule of law. The forces of Trumpian repression and neofascism would like nothing better than for us to give up. Then they’d win it all. But we cannot allow them to.

We will never give up.

Former federal prosecutor Brendan Ballou says protests are more powerful that they might imagine, especially when targeted at career government officials:

... [T]he first Trump administration was often pressured into dropping unpopular policies. Faced with external — and based on my own experience, I suspect internal — opposition, the administration abandoned various plans to deport migrants who were gravely ill, to fine others hundreds of thousands of dollars, and to revoke visas for many international students. The first Trump administration gave up on efforts that received relatively little attention — a plan to close or privatize centers to train firefighters, for instance — as well as those that received a great deal, such as the president’s scheme to halt military aid to Ukraine. Under pressure, the administration even gave up on signature policies: In the face of overwhelming public opposition, for example, the president disavowed his policy of separating migrant children from their parents, even before a court order required him to do so.

What these examples show is that resistance can work. But my own experience suggests such resistance works best if it’s targeted well. It’s largely ineffective for protesters to focus their energy on the government’s top decision-makers, such as the president and his political appointees. On most issues, these people have made up their minds. Protest won’t sway them, and may in fact tempt their antidemocratic instincts. But virtually every government policy must be developed and implemented by people far below those appointees. These people — who swear an independent oath to protect the Constitution — can be affected by public influence, and as public servants, should be. Activism can help them understand issues, and empower them to speak up against illegal or unjust policies. That’s true, even as Trump tries to purge the federal government of anyone who won’t be completely loyal to him.  [snip]

...[T]he new administration has had mixed success purging its perceived opponents, and some offices have thus far been able to resist illegal mass firings. Second, while court orders to stop such illegal firings might not mean much to someone like Elon Musk, they can mean a lot to the lawyers who can be disbarred — or the lackeys who can be jailed — for ignoring them. Third, to the extent the administration wants to do more than simply cut the size of government — an issue that, notably, does not seem to particularly interest the president — it will need to rely on existing officials to carry out its agenda. From deportations to trade wars to prosecutions of perceived enemies, the president’s plans will rely on federal employees, and these employees can be powerful. 

We close with Reich's final prescription, which we heartily endorse:

Finding room in life for joy, fun and laughter. We cannot let Trump and his darkness take over. Just as it’s important not to give up the fight, it’s critically important to take care of ourselves. If we obsess about Trump and fall down the rabbit hole of outrage, worry and anxiety, we won’t be able to keep fighting.

Take care of yourselves and others.  It's going to be a long, difficult road ahead.

QOTD -- No Going Back

 

"... To describe the current situation in the executive branch as merely a constitutional crisis is to understate the significance of what we’re experiencing. “Constitutional crisis” does not even begin to capture the radicalism of what is unfolding in the federal bureaucracy and of what Congress’s decision not to act may liquidate in terms of constitutional meaning.

Together, Trump and Musk are trying to rewrite the rules of the American system. They are trying to instantiate an anti-constitutional theory of executive power that would make the president supreme over all other branches of government. They are doing so in service of a plutocratic agenda of austerity and the upward redistribution of wealth. And the longer Congress stands by, the more this is fixed in place..." -- Jamelle Bouie, writing in the NYT that "There Is No Going Back" (gift link) after the Trump/ Musk coup. In this must- read piece, Bouie makes the point that, in just the past two- plus weeks, Trump and his co- President Musk have "altered the structure of things" in such a way that we can't expect to return to the status quo as it was before January 20, 2025.  A new rethinking of our political system will be required when and, more importantly, if we survive the fascist era in American politics.  We'd like to add that our judicial system must be included in any rethinking, as it has played a large and destabilizing part in getting us to where we are today.

Hair On Fire Yet? Musk's Takeover Of Federal Payment System

It can't be stressed enough -- this is what's going on in the most sensitive parts of your U.S. Government:

A 25-year-old engineer in Elon Musk’s DOGE has access to a “top-secret” federal payment system within the Treasury Department, a report said Tuesday.

The engineer, Marko Elez, reportedly has the ability to alter the code responsible for the vast majority of payments the U.S. government makes to its citizens, including Social Security, tax returns, and much more. 

Elez was identified by sources who spoke to WIRED, making him the seventh young DOGE staffer to be unmasked on Musk’s team, which has shaken up Washington as the billionaire tries to made good on his promise to cut billions of federal spending.  

The supposed whiz kid has been granted access “not just to read but to write code” within the U.S. Payment Automation Manager and Secure Payment System at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, WIRED reported.

These systems are said to be housed on a “top-secret mainframe” that hosts information about government payments amounting to more than a fifth of the U.S. economy. That includes grants and payouts to government contractors that would likely include private sector competitors to Musk’s companies...  (our emphasis)

Let's also just stress again that this is a 25- year- old someone having access to this critical system who we'll guess has no "top secret" security clearance, and certainly no background in government financial systems.  He's now positioned to disrupt payments to all sorts of entities, including YOU, intentionally or inadvertently, at the behest of the South African un-elected fascist oligarch Elon Musk.  

Your hair should be completely engulfed by fire by now.

BONUS:  Explainer here (=Boom!=) --

"I just want to be clear about what's going on here." - @warren.senate.gov www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIHN...

[image or embed]

— L O L G O P (@lolgop.bsky.social) February 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM

 

 

The Trump/Musk Coup And The Tariffs Bungle

 

Heather Cox Richardson, in her "Letters from an American" substack, summarizing the ongoing Musk/ Trump coup and tariff bungle:

I’m going to start tonight by stating the obvious: the Republicans control both chambers of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They also control the White House and the Supreme Court. If they wanted to get rid of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for example, they could introduce a bill, debate it, pass it, and send it on to President Trump for his signature. And there would be very little the Democrats could do to stop that change.

But they are not doing that.

Instead, they are permitting unelected billionaire Elon Musk, whose investment of $290 million in Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election apparently has bought him freedom to run the government, to override Congress and enact whatever his own policies are by rooting around in government agencies and cancelling those programs that he, personally, dislikes.

The replacement of our constitutional system of government with the whims of an unelected private citizen is a coup. The U.S. president has no authority to cut programs created and funded by Congress, and a private citizen tapped by a president has even less standing to try anything so radical...

The time for Democrats to have gamed out this worst case scenario was last November.  There is no time now for largely symbolic legislative moves that the lawless fascist regime would ignore just as it's ignoring the U.S. Constitution and established law.  Now that we've all been punched in the face, we'd like to know what's their new plan.  Maybe someone's learned you don't bring norms to a Trump fight?*

____________________

... As soon as [White House Spokesliar Karoline] Leavitt announced the upcoming tariffs, the stock market began to fall, and by last night, stock market futures had fallen 450 points on the expectation of tariffs hitting at midnight tonight. Today, the stock market continued to fall. Even reliable Trump allies began to complain that the tariffs would raise prices. The Wall Street Journal editorial board called Trump’s tariffs “the dumbest trade war in history.”

Today, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced that she and Trump had “reached a series of agreements” that would pause the threatened tariffs for a month. Mexico agreed to “reinforce the northern border with 10,000 elements of the National Guard immediately, to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States,” while the U.S. “commits to work to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.”

When Trump announced their conversation shortly afterward, he omitted the part of the agreement that committed the U.S. to try to stop the flow of guns to Mexico. He also did not mention that, in fact, Mexico committed to putting 10,000 troops at the border in 2021. As Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post commented above a record of Mexican troop deployments: “Any news outlet reporting Mexico conceded anything to Trump to get him to delay tariffs has not done its homework. Trump boasts he got Mexico to commit to stationing 10K troops at our border. Apparently he didn’t realize Mexico already has 15K troops deployed there[.]”

The crisis at the northern border worked out in a similar fashion. After conferring, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump announced a 30-day pause in the implementation of tariffs. Trudeau agreed to appoint a border czar and to implement a $1.3 billion border plan that Canada had announced in December.

In other words, while Musk was causing a constitutional crisis, Trump created an economic crisis that threatened both domestic and global chaos, then claimed Biden administration achievements as his own and declared victory...

Unlike the real life coup taking place, a lot of us are thinking that the Malignant Fascist's tariffs gambit is prototypical MF:  as a performative exercise to thrill those parts of the MAGAt base that love the faux strongman image, while simply using the threat of tariffs to make bogus advances and then claim victory.  While he has had a lifelong love affair with tariffs, the MF may have been feeling the heat from other parts of his MAGAt base -- i.e., the USCofC and NAM -- and decided now was not the right time to stick it to our friends, allies and, of course, to his mouth- breathing base (if we could only read his mind ... it would be a very short story).  Of course, with this klepto-kakistocracy, chaos is the point.

*h/t Marc Elias.