Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law.
I would know because I wrote the law.
Incoming presidents are required to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement.
This is what illegal corruption looks like. https://t.co/JJjJ59DgB5
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 11, 2024
Senator Warren is all too correct… Per CNN, “Trump still hasn’t signed ethics agreement required for presidential transition”:
President-elect Donald Trump has not yet submitted a series of transition agreements with the Biden administration, in part because of concerns over the mandatory ethics pledge vowing to avoid conflicts of interest once sworn in to office, CNN has learned.
As president, Trump repeatedly came under fire from ethics groups for potential conflicts of interest relating to his businesses and brands. Both Trump’s and his family’s foreign business ties have also come under intense scrutiny throughout his time in office and on the campaign trail.
Trump and his transition team are already behind in accessing key transition briefings from the Biden administration, as they have failed to sign a pair of agreements to unlock critical information before taking over the federal government in 72 days.
The holdup revolves in part around the mandatory agreement over ethics issues.
A source familiar with the process acknowledged that details are still being worked out with the Biden administration regarding the ethics agreement, which is required by law under the Presidential Transition Act and which applies to all members of the transition team. Updates to that bill requiring the ethics pledge were introduced by Trump ally Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, and signed into law by Trump himself in March 2020…
Trump’s most recent financial disclosures as a candidate showed that he has continued to make millions off his properties, books and licensing deals. He and his family recently launched a new cryptocurrency business.
A sizable share of his net worth, meanwhile, is tied to the publicly traded parent company of Truth Social, the conservative social media network. Trump is the dominant shareholder and said Friday that he has no intention of selling his 114.75 million shares, worth about $3.7 billion.
The Trump team ignored a pair of key preelection deadlines to unlock transition activities with the Biden administration’s General Services Administration and the White House. Experts are sounding the alarms about impacts to Day 1 national security preparedness.
The GSA agreement, due September 1, gives Trump’s team access to office space and secure communications, among other provisions. And the White House agreement, due October 1, serves as the gatekeeper for access to agencies and information and lays groundwork for Trump’s team to receive security clearances necessary to begin receiving classified information. The ethics agreement was also due by October 1…
citizen dave
Frist!
ETA: It’s the small things
OK, I wrote this, cut it; might as well post it. It’s where I was this morning. I was away from BJ all day…was just persuing the posts.
Reading Heather Cox Richardson’s email this morning about the idea floating by his team of having a board of retired military to oversee and fire any current ones not sufficiently loyal to orange turd got me thinking. Also the idea that he wants to use the military to turn on citizens. It all got me thinking. Will some of our military have it out with him eventually? Another line of thought, is what if he just had B Obama (or any similar others) arrested and jailed? What happens then? Sorry for the doom thoughts…
NotMax
Norm!
– Cheers
:)
bbleh
All power to Senator Professor Warren, and she’s 100% right to call this out.
Alas that it is not just presently immaterial but that the Orange Thing and its supporters consider it GOOD.
The popular ethos now is that of not-too-bright teenage boys. And in that ethos, breaking rules is DARING, it’s ASSERTIVE, it’s HOT!! It gets respect from the other boys. And it SHOULD get respect from the girls, and if it doesn’t, they need to LEARN who deserves RESPECT!
The Boys On The Bus, btw, along with being very much among the crowd, deserve a big share of the blame.
Mathguy
This is my shocked face that the orange MF is ignoring laws he signed off on.
gene108
Who’s going to make Trump sign or hold him accountable for not signing?
It should be obvious Trump is the new normal. Rules don’t apply unless you can force compliance and nobody has yet held Trump accountable in his entire life.
RSA
What enforcement options exist? And does the law specify any penalties?
My grade-school understanding of the separation of powers tells me that this is really an issue for the executive branch rather than the legislative branch. If that’s the case, I don’t think Biden will do anything, like throw the fucker in jail.
scav
Lady Justice, along with Lady Liberty et al, are truly being grabbed by the pussy. But hey! It’s an official act!
mali muso
If anyone is up for listening in on a Zoom call featuring Prof Warren, at 8:30 EST tonight, Indivisible is launching “Worth Fighting For: Indivisible’s Strategy for Fighting Trump 2.0”.
Link to sign up here.
I’m exhausted and want to totally check out, but I’m going to try to listen and see if there are some actionable items that I can take to start thinking about how to plug in locally. Beats rage scrolling anyways.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
Ethics schmethics. Susan Collins will furrow her brows and reassuringly scratch her chin to let you know that tfg has learned his lesson from not being prosecuted and will not do anything illegal moving forward.
Jay
reposted from below
https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-wont-get-to-unperson-terrorist
Full List of Democrats Who Voted for Bill That Gives Trump Admin More Power
https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-republicans-voted-give-trump-treasury-more-power-1984733
You know, if any of you want to do some cathartic screaming into the void over your Reps phone lines or email.
New Deal democrat
In a recent thread, someone asked when DougJBalloon would show up on Bluesky.
He’s there now:
https://bsky.app/profile/nytpitchbot.bsky.social
Ned F
I’m sure when Matt Geitz becomes AG he’ll get right on that.
SFAW
@Ned F:
He’ll have to wait for his recess appointment.
In the meantime, Merrick Garland will name a Special Counsel to investigate.
Maxim
Outrage exhaustion is indeed exhausting. Take care of yourselves, folks.
JaySinWA
From the articles the penalties are not getting transition briefings until the documents are signed, and so far they are not getting briefings. The question is who is going to force the administration to break the law and go ahead without the signed documents.
cmorenc
@citizen dave: Trump won’t be out to arrest Obama. It’s the members of the J6 committee, and possibly Jack Smith who are the most likely targets for intense prosecutorial harassment. Nor will he go after Biden as more than a convenient rhetorical political foil. Even Matt Gaetz as AG will likely remind Trump that the same SCOTUS immunity decision that benefitted Trump will make it impossible to go after Biden.
Raoul Paste
@New Deal democrat: Here’s one of Doug J’s latest:
Matt Gaetz thought that “recess appointment“ meant something else.
different-church-lady
Pft. Laws. Like we still have those.
RaflW
“As president, Trump repeatedly came under fire from ethics groups for potential conflicts of interest relating to his businesses and brands.”
Newspaper editors & TV news producers let out a series of yawns so epic, the echo is still traveling around the earth at subsonic frequencies
eta: Believe me, I know cynicism isn’t helpful. But in terms of gov’t rules and institutional failures, I just feel that barn door is burnt and the hinges stolen by a scrap metal guy.
YY_Sima Qian
The is happening when Biden is still President, & DHS bureaucracy must have been working on this contingency for at least several months (anticipating a Trump victory):
different-church-lady
@New Deal democrat: Critical mass achieved.
different-church-lady
@cmorenc: I take comfort in the fact that he never did lock up Hillary.
Yeah. Who am I kidding?
Chris Johnson
From downthread (things moved fast while I was at work, and this is kind of important)
One thing is absolutely clear. Trump does not have a single trusted loyal Republican ally other than people who are literal Russian assets or kompromat targets of the most extreme variety.
This is shocking.
It’s like he has no loyalists on his own side at all. It would be so easy to appoint trusted Republican experts and qualified people who’re still down for one party rule.
He is not. He has ONLY wildly unqualified lunatics and degenerates and there seems to be not a single example of an actually appropriate, capable person for any of it. They are ALL useless vatniks who can’t pour piss out of a boot, but cannot disobey Putin. Not Trump, not the party: Putin.
Republicans want power, not THIS. Everything about this screams it’s a bust-out.
They intend to use the lunatics and direct the vatniks to wreck America as quickly and violently as possible, and Trump seems to have ONLY vatniks as allies and trusts nobody else. It’s not a joke, it’s a trap!
Jay
@cmorenc:
LMAO,
#1, In theory, the DOJ/FBI/etc can “go after” anyone they want, maybe not successfully, but they can make life a living hell of Courts, Hearings, Legal costs and lawfare.
#2, The Supremacist Court will quickly rule that “Official Duties Presidential Immunity” only applies to ReThug “Presidents”.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
Well, sad to say, breaking conflict of interest laws is only against the law if somebody with the power to enforce the law cares enough about the law to enforce it, and we don’t have that right now. Not like the courts will do anything about it, or Once and Future Former Guy’s Justice [sic] Department.
Archon
I’m all for this insanity because whatever crisis point we are inevitably headed towards, it should happen sooner rather than later. I’m already too old to be part of some anti-fascist militia force, in a few years I might be too old to run away from tear gas and too fragile to deal with rubber bullets.
Who knew a single election could turn me from a center-left Democrat to an accelerationist, but here we are.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
@cmorenc: if you believe the Supreme Court would apply that immunity to Biden, or any Democratic president… Well, all I can say is that I tend to be a pretty hopeful guy, but you’re in a whole new league.
Jay
@Raoul Paste:
If you ever consider yourself to be a failure,
keep in mind that Matt Gaetz was in his 40’s before he had his first High School Girlfriend.
JoyceH
He’s going to be selling his tacky ‘gold’ tchotchkes from behind the Resolute Desk, isn’t he?
YY_Sima Qian
@Jay: Dems have a history of expanding the powers of the Executive & the breadth of the natsec state (including mass surveillance) when they are in power, understandably to circumvent R induced gridlock, but w/o consideration as to how the reactions might abuse such power at home & abroad when they inevitably win at some point.
However, this is the 1st instance I can recall that many Dems voted to give the incoming R President (w/ a huge body of evidence pointing to his willingness to abuse power) still more power to punish domestic opponents (including Ds & their donors).
At least the bill failed because a bunch of Republicans also voted No…
Jay
@JoyceH:
He’s going to sell authentic splinters of the Resolute Desk along with pieces of the “True Cross” that the “Deep State” crucified him on.
Sure Lurkalot
Apparently Gaetz has already resigned from Congress, so DeSantis now has two appointments to make. Will one be himself?
Jay
@YY_Sima Qian:
And the vote was yesterday, when they already knew that Dolt 47 had won and would be even more nuts, trash and vengeance than Dolt 45.
Nukular Biskits
Good evenin’, y’all.
Starfish
@mali muso: Thanks!
Baud
Blue sky says NYC congestion pricing is on. I know some folks here were following that.
eclare
@Maxim:
I mentioned downstairs that I am glad that I have a trashy reality show to watch tonight. I am sick of this reality.
JaySinWA
@Sure Lurkalot: Representatives are replaced by election not by appointment. So unless Scott is quitting I think he only gets one bite of the poisonous fruit.
mrmoshpotato
@Sure Lurkalot:
Sounds like he can’t wait to start looking through underage porn evidence.
RaflW
@YY_Sima Qian: Reporting I saw said only one R voted no. The bill failed because it was being pushed via an exception that required 2/3rds pasage.
I haven’t reached out to Angie Craig (MN) yet. I’m really, really pissed over her yes vote. If this thing passes, I can easily see organizations like OutFront, whose C(4) worked hard on her (re)election since she’s a Dem and a lesbian.
Did she really think we’d not notice? Is this a defensive crouch move because she’s worried about the 2026 race? Jesus f—, that’s a long way off in terms of the harm and chaos coming.
I want a strong Democratic party. That has to start with strong MOCs. Dammit.
eclare
@Baud:
What is going on?
mrmoshpotato
@eclare:
LOL!
Baud
@eclare:
I’ve exhausted my knowledge.
Starfish
@Sure Lurkalot: Here is where Mike Johnson explains it. This is surprisingly coherent for Johnson.
cain
@Chris Johnson:
what proof do you have of this? I mean as far as I’m concerned the entire GOP has been pretty happy with Putin money.
JoyceH
Wait – he’s resigned? So if the Senate could just find their backbones and fail to confirm, he’s out of government? Oh please, oh please…
RaflW
@Sure Lurkalot: OMG what an idiot (Gaetz, I mean). He’ll probably get into the Admin in some job or other, acting or confirmed. Is he a lock for A.G.? Maybe I’m too sanguine, but I’d say not yet.
Baud
Gaetz resigning is an attempt to prevent the House ethics report about him from coming out.
YY_Sima Qian
@RaflW: Thanks for the explanation! That makes more sense. I was wondering why would any R vote No.
Starfish
@eclare: Congestion pricing for NYC was supposed to go into effect this year. NYC is very serious about cutting the carbon emissions. Hochul canceled it because she didn’t want to be flagged as a Democrat increasing the cost of things. This pissed off all the people who were very seriously trying to cut emissions, but a few people in some outer boroughs were happy about it.
With the congestion pricing, some folks are going to drive more through the outer boroughs making the polluted air of those areas even more polluted there.
Now everyone can hate Hochul for various reasons.
karen marie
@mali muso: Are these things recorded and posted for later listening?
Starfish
@karen marie: It looks like it might be?
eclare
@Starfish:
You’re right, that was coherent.
eclare
@Starfish:
Gotcha. Thanks!
RaflW
@YY_Sima Qian: I think the only R vote No was one of the tiny handful of Rs who voted yes on articles of impeachment.
YY_Sima Qian
@RaflW: Yep, species already destined for extinction.
tam1MI
I looked up to see how many Representatives from my state of Michigan voted for this thing. There were… a whole bunch, with the obvious exception of Rashida Tlaib. I wonder how she must have felt as the members of her own Congressional delegation voted to, essentially, have her arrested and sent to prison.
eclare
Huh. According to Twitter, the House Ethics Committee was going to vote this Friday on whether to release its report on Gaetz. Now it has no jurisdiction.
For those still on Twitter:
https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1856859774211563535
Nukular Biskits
@eclare:
What’s Twitter?
🤣
Baud
@tam1MI:
I don’t think this bill was about criminal penalties.
Baud
Via Bluesky
Kirk
@Jay: I already sent my chastisement to Allred.
eclare
@Baud:
I thought it was too expensive to drink at airport bars anymore.
Steve LaBonne
@eclare: I’m sure his resignation is completely coincidental and has nothing to do with that. Also, I believe in the tooth fairy.
Geminid
@Starfish: I wonder if Gov. Hochul stalled congestion pricing until after the election because she thought that might help Democrats’ chances to take back some suburban seats. If Mondaire Jones and a couple others on Long Island had won, Hochul might look like a shrewd operator. Now people just mad at her in another way.
I saw a funny picture of a couple New Yorkers dressed for Halloween, a man and a woman. The man had on a white shirt with red dye running down his chest and the words, “Congestion Pricing.” The dark-haired woman standing next to him had a bloody knife in her hand.
CaseyL
@eclare:
Gaetz didn’t have to resign his seat to avoid that. It’s a GOP Ethics Committee that surely would not want to alienate the next AG before he even officially gets the job.
They’d’ve deep-sixed the report anyway.
p.a.
Link via Fred Clark at slacktivist
go RSS, and escape the algorithm.
https://lifehacker.com/tech/the-best-rss-reader-apps-in-2024
John S.
@tam1MI:
I’m sure she knows the feeling. After all, she encouraged her own constituents to either sit out or vote for the people who were going to get them locked up and/or deported.
Baud
@eclare:
Trump fixed it!
Jackie
@Sure Lurkalot: House Reps hold special elections, so those two seats are unfilled until the special elections. DeSantis can appoint a placeholder for Rubio’s senate seat, though.
mrmoshpotato
https://bsky.app/profile/johngcole.bsky.social/post/3laujqkvmii22
Yup.
YY_Sima Qian
In case anyone is wondering how the Sino-U.S. Trade War Round 2 & the Sino-US Cold War will go, below is a pretty good prognosis:
Baud
Small bit of good news from Blue sky.
Starfish
Someone in the Indivisible Q&A asked “Will there be concepts of a plan?”
Baud
Via reddit, meme.
Jay
@Baud:
It’s worse than that.
It’s a “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon” rule.
Eg. The US Red Cross supports in part the Palestinian and Syrian Red Cross, both Syria and Israel accuse, ( not proven, no evidence) those Red Crosses have some members involved with Hamas and the SFL
So just an accusation of “supporting terrorism” would allow the pulling of the American Red Cross’s Charity Status by the politically motivated.
So, Talib’s PAC’s would be toast.
Suzanne
It’s just so incredibly disheartening how the worst people in the world just keep getting away with it.
Harrison Wesley
There’s been talk that DeSantis wants his wife to run for guv. Maybe he can make himself senator and have her take over in Florida. I don’t know how things work here, so maybe that’s impossible.
Jackie
@eclare: Would the Ethics Committee accidentally “leak” compromising info that could sink Gaetz?
Maxim
@eclare: Yeah, time for some self-care escapism. There’s only so much I can take at one time.
Baud
@Jay:
I don’t see how pulling non-profit status is worse than throwing people in prison.
(I haven’t looked at the bill myself).
Peale
@mrmoshpotato: Sheesh. I mean, who reads the butter label? Does anyone read it? Apparently though, the design team at the packaging company doesn’t even bother.
This is why there are copy editors!
Baud
@Peale:
The butter industry relies on AI now.
p.a.
Or the tRump prosecutions flood the airwaves with their work?
Awww hell no: that’s against ethics and norms! We want our institutions squeaky clean as we watch them dismantled piecemeal.
Gin & Tonic
@mrmoshpotato:
We sometimes buy whole smoked whitefish from a small artisanal smokehouse. It’s packaged in clear plastic, vacuum-packed, and is very clearly a whole fish – head, tail, dorsal fin, everything. The label says, among other things: “Warning: Product Contains Fish.”
Peale
@YY_Sima Qian: Regardless of what happens, I’m stocking up on LED light bulbs.
Jay
@Baud:
Throwing important people in jail, in the US, up until now, required charges, evidence, a trial and a conviction.
Pulling any group’s Charity Status under this proposed law would just require an allegation and a signature.
Jay
@Gin & Tonic:
Desiccant packs marked “Do Not Eat”.
I am surprised that they weren’t labeled “May Contain Fish”.
Fair Economist
@different-church-lady: Trump *did* try to indict Hillary. The grand jury laughed it off.
JoyceH
I’m starting to think Gaetz is so comically unqualified that maybe he’s the red herring to draw attention from the Fox Shouter at DOD and Vlad’s girl Tulsi as DNI.
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic: LOL! Also, mmmmmmm.
Also, people who don’t know butter and cream are made from milk are idiots, and too many of them vote apparently.
Jay
@JoyceH:
Should do wonders with NATO and 5Eyes Intelligence sharing.
mrmoshpotato
@Fair Economist:
I’d forgotten about that – and that the grand jury told Dump to fuck off to Moscow and pound his tiny fists on the floor of the Kremlin.
Citizen Alan
Yes, but at least she took a stand against Kamala Harris. /s
eclare
@mrmoshpotato:
SMDH
Starfish
One of the Indivisible actions is telling your congress critters now to fill those judicial vacancies.
Another Scott
I’ve still mostly been ignoring the news, but the headlines are exactly as I imagined they would be. And the press is going nuts over every word in Trumpworld, just as they did after the 2016. They gotta chase those clicks and grab those eyeballs!!11ONE
As a reminder, Most of his big appointments last [time] weren’t confirmed until mid-February 2017. That’s quite a long way – like 3 months – away.
Folks need to pace themselves, IMHO.
DJT is going to try to do what he wants, and try to bully those around him, as he did before. It doesn’t much matter who the yes-man is as Secretary, they’re going to do what they’re told or they’ll be fired. We know how this stuff works with him. Look at that link to see the churn in his cabinet the last time.
Meanwhile, 8 days after the election, Joe Biden is still president, and he’s going to be talking with Xi on November 16 at the APEC summit in Peru. That background briefing and Q&A tells a little bit about the things they’ve been doing to increase communications, reduce tensions, and figure out how to work together on important areas of common interest. Of course DJT is going to try to put his bigly stamp on everything, but not everything revolves around him…
Hang in there everyone. It’s going to be a long slog and pacing ourselves and self care, and staying strong for those who need us, is important.
Best wishes,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@eclare: Chocolate milk comes from brown cows!
dc
@Jay:
My Rep did not vote for this wretched piece of legistlation, thank Humanity.
lowtechcyclist
@mrmoshpotato:
How, now?
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
Does coffee cream and Coffee Mate come from the black cows?
mrmoshpotato
@lowtechcyclist: Basketball jonesed cow!
Go Illini!
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Is coffee cream and Coffee Mate black in Canada? 😱
Peale
@Jay: Naval cows. Sometimes cow pirates.
Ksmiami
@lowtechcyclist: and you rub a cow vigorously to make a milkshake…
zhena gogolia
@Another Scott: I signed up for TPM yesterday, but I’m already sorry I did. I spent 5 seconds there and am already sick of it.
mrmoshpotato
Nice to see that Chuck Todd can still go fuck himself into the Sun.
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
No, but some people put it in black coffee.
karen marie
@Starfish: Nice! Thanks!
eclare
Hehehe…serious shade on Gaetz, from The Babylon Bee of all places
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1856875532899561824
karen marie
@mrmoshpotato: How do you fuck up the ingredient list for butter?
I mean, come the fuck on.
This is what comes of pushing STEM over everything else.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Coffee doesn’t come from cows, you hoser!
mrmoshpotato
@eclare: Isn’t that a satirical site like The Onion?
Fake Irishman
@Another Scott:
Also, another district court judge got confirmed today.
Good job 2022 America. That senate election will pay dividends for another 30-45 days or so.
mrmoshpotato
@karen marie: STEM is responsible for people being too stupid to know cream is a milk product?
prostratedragon
@p.a.: Thanks, I’m trying an app now. Used to read many feeds directly through the browser but ‘Aggregator News’ app seems better.
Ain’t it the truth! (New Yorker toon)
karen marie
@Gin & Tonic: My personal favorite is the “gluten free” sign over the eggs at the grocery store.
karen marie
@dc: Call and thank them?
karen marie
@mrmoshpotato: No, it’s responsible for the lack of reading comprehension on the part of the person writing the label.
mrmoshpotato
@karen marie: Since chickens consume grains, some people wonder: are eggs are gluten free?
mrmoshpotato
@karen marie: They don’t teach that anymore?
Wait, the person writing the label? Ummm…..
karen marie
@mrmoshpotato: I see no evidence that it’s being taught.
The site you link to is a joke, right?
mrmoshpotato
@karen marie: No. And seeing as how most people aren’t very familiar with chickens’ digestive systems…
Something I’d wonder if I couldn’t digest gluten.
Ramona
@YY_Sima Qian: Adam Schiff, Marcy Kaptur, Collin Allred, Elissa Slotkin were among the Dems I was surprised to see who voted yes for the bill.
catclub
I still think Biden should resign so we get a first woman President, and she pardons everyone related to the J6th committee, the justice department, and Hunter Biden, for any and all crimes past or future. Kind of like Nixon’s.
catclub
@YY_Sima Qian: Trump will ditch Ukraine and Taiwan.
Peale
@karen marie: I can think of three or four wheys off the top of my head.
Jackie
Keep hope alive for Casey!
eemom
@catclub:
Yes, by all means, let’s break Kamala’s heart more than it’s broken already by giving her a little taste of what should have been and never will be.
I get that we’re all heartbroken too and therefore somewhat irrational, but some of the comments here are truly breathtaking in their cluelessness.
And yes, “pardoning” people for doing their jobs is just exactly like Nixon’s. omfg.
Another Scott
Yet another reminder today that the future hasn’t been written yet. KyivIndependent.com:
Lots of these folks have their own political supporters, interests, funding sources, and concerns. They’re not all going to throw themselves off a cliff for DJT. Why should they tie themselves to him when they know that DJT just grabs every party campaign dollar for himself??
I’m reminded that Trump started talking after the 2016 election about all the great infrastructure things he was going to do, and Moscow Mitch said “nope”. And nothing happened. Everyone in the Senate thinks that they should be president instead, and they’re going to guard their power even if/when they vote for some of the felon’s policies (that are in their interests – like tax cuts).
Hang in there, everyone.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gloria DryGarden
can you, or someone with a business or economics background tell me what this means? Unless I’m the only one who doesn’t understand it..
@YY_Sima Qian:
Geminid
@Ramona: Maybe it’s not as bad a bill as we are being told. There are other Representatives on that list that I respect, including some that I think are in safe seats. And it doesn’t seem like a vote against would have hurt Angie Craig or Sharice Davids or any of the others in 2026.
Their yes votes might not hurt them either. I don’t see this as being that salient an issue a year from now.
Other MJS
@Jay: Jared Moscowitz???
Jay
@Geminid:
Nope, its a horrible bill, more so when it allows Dolt47 to weaponize it, when they already knew Dolt 47 was elected.
Sister Golden Bear
@JaySinWA:
This is a feature, not a bug, as far as the incoming wrecking crew is concerned.
Gloria DryGarden
I am so grateful for your posts, and calm information. It really helps.
Also glad to see Thule as upcoming senate leader wants to support Ukraine and thus the world stage. I hope he’s a man with some sense of world diplomacy and nuance.
Meanwhile I’m going to celebrate that Joe Biden is still president.
YY_Sima Qian
@Gloria DryGarden: In short, everything will soon be zero sum (the only way for the U.S. to advance is to hold the PRC back, & vice versa), everything is will be refracted through the natsec lens (think “Red under Every Bed”), including trade, investment, scientific cooperation, technological collaboration, people to people exchanges (where the perception becomes that of every interaction is one party doing a favor to the other or being taken advantaged of by the other). We are already pretty close to this point after 8 years of Great Power Competition, but Trump will take it all the way there, if not beyond.
YY_Sima Qian
@Gloria DryGarden: Also wrote my 2 cents on Xinjiang & the Uyghurs in the other thread.
Gloria DryGarden
@catclub: curious, what is your purpose in saying this?
Are you suggesting a way to prepare, if your prediction comes true?
Im trying to hold back the worst possible things by lighting more candles up on my virtual altar. I feel like I’m holding up a flimsy fence holding back a build up of flood waters, that could burst through.
It’s exactly what happened literally, to my friend near Asheville; the neighbor’s fence fell under the build up of water and she was washed down stream, lucky to be alive now.
Just not ready to drown in negative predictions and horrible likelihoods.
im not trying to be hard on you, no interest in fighting. This kind of statement is hard on me. Maybe you’re stating a worry, maybe you have some ideas to suggest.
YY_Sima Qian
@Another Scott: Mitch McConnell did not really rein in Trump in the 2nd half of his 1st term, I am not holding my breath that Thune will somehow do better. The R party & Congressional caucuses have radicalized further in the past 4 years.
Gloria DryGarden
@YY_Sima Qian: more? I didn’t see, went to sleep, will go back and read. Thx. Was trying not to set up any questions that are dangerous for you to answer.
probably worth more than 2cents… $5? $50?
[if I can just fix my teleporter device, you could beam me over some of that Uighur lamb bbq. (I think the missing part is gonna be shipped by temu)]
Dan B
@Gloria DryGarden: MTG got reassurances from Johnson (Moses) that there would be no funds for Ukraine. A fight with Thune soon?
Free rhyming!
eclare
@mrmoshpotato:
It is, but Christian.
YY_Sima Qian
@Gloria DryGarden: Don’t worry, plenty of people in China (Chinese or foreign nationals) have said much worse (from the CPC’s regime’s perspective) on global social media. I am not writing on Chinese social media or in public squares in China.
danielx
Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, as I live and die.
Susan Collins’ forehead will be so furrowed she’ll require plastic surgery. After voting for his confirmation, of course, after receiving all due assurance that he will never again so much as look at a female under the age of 18.
Edit: I have almost as hard a time looking at that smarmy sonofabitch as I do looking at the orange beast.
Gloria DryGarden
@Dan B: MTG NEEDS reassurances that no one will ever sell her the feminine hygiene products she needs.
Isn’t she just in her 40s? Maybe i wish she’d get accidentally pregnant. Let’s reassure her that she can’t get mifepristone or any other intervention. No laws will be broken on her behalf..
she has not been an ally to anyone.
i will attend to your free rhyming offer, if I can calm down enough.
oh, that fucking bitch.
Gloria DryGarden
@YY_Sima Qian: ok good.
your in-depth information and perspective is such a blessing. An your ability to clarify and break it down, I so appreciate it.
Jackie
With everything going on today, did anyone notice with Gaetz’s quitting, the House is still up for grabs? The majority needs 118. Gaetz quitting put the GQP count at 117.
Unless I missed something?
LAC
This is an inspiring choice, isn’t it?. Matt Gaetz will do all the things that weak minded by the book upholding the constitution dud Merrick Garland didn’t do. And, hey civil rights are gooooood to go! So when our protestors get ready to latte their way onto the streets, things will fine because Gaetz will be there, protecting and upholding the constitution. Yay!
And not to mention the fun we in the federal government ethics community will have trying to enforce laws that the new team will not agree to. It is gonna be great!👍🏾
/s
Gloria DryGarden
@Jackie: did he just get re-elected? And now he vacates his seat? Do they have special elections for that? How close is the house seat balance?
Do people not think, these pedophiles and sex traffickers and rapists, that the women and girls (and boys) in question could be their own daughters, or sisters? Applies to the abortion question too, of course.
Do they not think? Shall they require all the daughters of trump voters in office to date either nick Fuentes or Matt g himself?
Gloria DryGarden
@Jackie: this could be a good thing for the house..fingers crossed.
Gloria DryGarden
@lowtechcyclist:
@mrmoshpotato:
So funny!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Geminid:
Are you actually serious right now? Like Jay says in reply to you, it’s a bad fucking bill, there’s no sugarcoating it. I’m actually amazed any Dems were stupid enough to vote for it, to willingly give the GOP more weapons against themselves and us
Jackie
@Gloria DryGarden: Yes, Gaetz was just re-elected, and today quit – anticipating his new job as AG. He quit TODAY to deny the House Ethics Committee from announcing their findings re his trafficking a minor across state lines, drugs, etc. He quits; Investigation is moot.
mrmoshpotato
@Gloria DryGarden: Sarcasm! :)
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: As I read through the list Dem Yeahs, I too wondered if I was missing something. No, the bill really is that bad. Even if the Dems voted Yeah in the expectation that the vote would fail, they have morn given the dangerous proposal bipartisan support. Next time the Rs will maneuver to have the measure pass by a majority.
karen marie
@mrmoshpotato: omfg.
YY_Sima Qian
May be there is a method to Trump’s madness:
YY_Sima Qian
I would actually expect the Congressional R leadership to contest this one. Otherwise, legislature becomes an ornament & every member of Congress will be at Trump’s mercy to deliver pork to his/her district or state.
YY_Sima Qian
Here is one “optimistic” take on the future for the U.S.:
Gloria DryGarden
@YY_Sima Qian: in essence, getting them to say yes so many times, that when he gets to an even bigger ask….
they say yes again.
jeepers
Philbert
@YY_Sima Qian: Our disorganization and decentralization make control difficult enough without adding incompetent stupidity.
Thank you for this and as stated above, your perspectives.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jackie: oh, but then isn’t he open to state investigation, and they can turn their findings over to him?
what a weasel!
I have strong opinions about sex trafficking, forced sex w minors, anything sexual abuse. I’m appalled at anyone who is lenient or lax about it or looks the other way.
Gloria DryGarden
@Philbert: yes, it gives one a chance to imagine the noose will not be as tight. Or hope for some sort of gentler oppression, in fewer numbers.
oh geez. It does help. There’s a chance…
Gloria DryGarden
@Philbert: yes, it gives one a chance to imagine the noose will not be as tight. Or hope for some sort of gentler oppression, in fewer numbers.
oh geez. It does help. There’s a chance…
@mrmoshpotato: yes sarcasm, I recognized, but I loved it w lowtechcyclist’s addition. I Burst into laughter, glad I wasn’t drinking anything. Need to laugh
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@danielx: Mayb4 Gaetz can recommend his aesthetician who he uses for his botox shots to Susan Collins for her furrowed forehead. At the same time she may be able to get botox shots to help her with her spasmodic dysphonia at the same time. Just being a liberal helper here.
mrmoshpotato
@YY_Sima Qian: That’s reassuring. Seriously.
Punch Dump in his orange dick as early and often as possible – and don’t stop.
Glad to have an actual billionaire as governor who’s told the orange shitstain in advance to go fuck himself, go fuck his daughterwife, and fuck off to Moscow to cry to his Daddy Vladdy.
sab
@YY_Sima Qian: That is kind of hopeful. China has mostly always had competent autocracy. Russia has almost always had incompetent autocracy.
American democracy had slavery then Jim Crow. The competents were up North.
I am a big fan of competence, but also with democracy. We shall see (as my late mother used to say, signalling No.) Apparently we are aiming for neither. Hope the founding fathers got it right and we eventually get both.
Anyway
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): it’s the holy purple Dems! who can do no wrong … I was shocked by the list. All this talk about not pre-complying with the incoming maladministration is just for the proles.
YY_Sima Qian
@sab: The PRC during the Mao decades were anything but competent. Compared to the chaos of the Yeltsin decade, the Putin decades came off as competent, he is exposed now.
Barry
@karen marie: “My personal favorite is the “gluten free” sign over the eggs at the grocery store.”
That’s a marketing gimmick. I remember seeing ‘Fat Free Food’ on a bag of jellybeans in the 80’s..
schrodingers_cat
We are in this situation because a capable black man was elected as President, twice.
White women and white adjacents who voted R are as much to blame as white men.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: Someone said that Rashida Tlaib’s colleaugues in effect voted to have her arrested and sent to prison. But as someone else pointed out, this legislation pertains to charitable organizations and theirs tax exempt status. It creates no criminal liability.
That is the kind of exaggeration I spoke of. People can make slippery slope arguments as people often do, but I think they should start from a base of what this bill actually does and doesn’t do..
My problem with the bill is its narrow focus. There are many political advocacy groups that in my opinion should not have tax exempt status, including most of the conservative groups that have sprung up this century.
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): See my comment at #173.
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Marcy Kaptur is not a stupid person and neither are Sharice Davids and Elissa Slotkin.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: That’s the point of the bill to me, Trump Administration can use it to cut off the organizational & funding support structure for Dems & other parts of any anti-Fascist coalition, while preserving the organizational & funding support structure for the Repubs & their reactionary allies. This is not a bill that addresses highly political highly partisan advocacy groups having tax exempt status. This is a bill that narrowly targets organizations for nebulously defined “support for terrorism”, unilaterally defined by the Executive branch. We have already seen how such terminology gets quickly abused during the GWOT, & the R Party has devolved significantly since then.
Even if we did have a bill that addressed the more general issues of fake non-profits that are actually actively political actors, a Trump Administration & its AG can still be highly selective in who they decide to target. Stop giving them tools to suppress opposition. There are already expansive laws targeting support infrastructure for terrorism, & drug/human trafficking. Is registered non-profits “supporting terrorism” actually a problem that needs to be solved?!
IMO this is a bad bill even in 2004, let alone 2024.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: I did not say this was a good bill, and I’m glad it did not pass. But when people exagerate its effects and project Rahida Tlaib’s imprisonment under it, I will push back.
I will also push back at people who want to pin “scarlet As” on the 50 Democrats who voted for it. Some Democrats are compiling shit-lists– Democrats who voted for this bill, Democrats who called for Biden to step aside and so forth. I see them preparing future lists for Democrats who attend Trump’s inauguration, or his first State of the Union.
It won’t be long before two thirds of our Congressional members are on these lists. Some people will go into 2026 more interested in purging Democrats than electing them. I can already see people on the Left who are not themseves Democrats egging them on; the Jerkobin magazine crowd.
Kayla Rudbek
@Gloria DryGarden: as Eric Flint said in the Belisaruis series, a man who rapes his servants will also rape his country (from the scene where the Ethiopian regiments are assessing whether the last surviving prince is fit to be king of Ethiopia, and the regiments call in the female palace servants who knew him as he was growing up to testify to his character).
Misterpuff
@Jay: Coffee creamer comes from bulls.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: I think some commenters may have been hyperbolic, due to real concerns about giving broad bipartisan cover for a further push down the slipper slope (when are already in it sliding down). I think the onus is on the Dems that voted Yeah to explain their vote. I just can’t think of any possible justification.
I for one am not suggesting to cast any of the Ds from any anti-Fascist coalition, yet. We need every one of good faith in the tent. However, a Congressional ally is not much of use if he/she is too feckless to not give cover the policies that facilitate Fascism, at this moment of national peril. Dems have burned themselves repeated on this type of dynamics, politically & policywise.