I, for one, think it absolutely rules that Trump had to spend all day with:
– Ted Cruz, who he hates
– His giant loser son, who he also hates, and
– "First Buddy" Elon Musk, who he has grown to loathe pic.twitter.com/weBVucS65s— The okayest poster there is (@ok_post_guy) November 20, 2024
Very simple solution to get rid of him: Call him “Dad.”
— L O L G O P (@lolgop.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 7:31 PM
Rolling Stone reports — “Republicans Were Ready to Torch Elon Musk for Blowing the Election. Then Trump Won”:
Had Donald Trump lost the 2024 election, several Republicans close to him, GOP lawmakers, and conservative megadonors would have been quick to blame his top billionaire surrogate: Elon Musk.
In fact, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, a number of these sources — including one senior Trump campaign official — said they were each willing to go on the record with Rolling Stone about how furious they were at Musk and his America PAC operation for comically botching the Trump ground game in the battleground states, thus blowing the presidential race for Trump. The catch was: These sources were only willing to vent, with their names attached, if Trump actually lost. And some of these Republicans were indeed anxious that he would…
The Trump campaign official went as far as to concede to Rolling Stone that “we never should have outsourced” so much of the ground-game operations to that “very strange man.”
Yet the embattled former president nevertheless came out on top — and now Musk is more firmly embedded within the MAGA and GOP elite than ever, to the frustration of some of the president-elect’s longtime advisers. They are, at least for the time being, stuck with him, due to a victory that many in the MAGA upper crust see not as the result of Musk’s efforts, but in spite of them.
Musk spent at least $119 million on his pro-Trump Super PAC — and now he’s set to help lead Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with dismantling government bureaucracy, waste, and regulations, as well as restructuring federal agencies. Musk — who runs Tesla, SpaceX, and X, formerly known as Twitter — is a major government contractor, and federal agencies are investigating some of his companies.
At this moment, he is a protected man in Trumpworld, in the good graces of key members of the Trump family, Tucker Carlson, and other MAGAville luminaries, and the president-elect — even though a few short months ago, Trump was privately trashing Musk as “boring” and awkward.
It is also true, as multiple news outlets have reported lately, that a number of top aides and confidants in Trump’s orbit have grown visibly annoyed at what they view as Musk’s overstepping and ham-fisted meddling as the second Trump administration takes shape…
There are numerous sources close to Trump — big donors, incoming administration officials, lawyers, even some who like Musk — predicting that the Trump-Musk bond is not built to last. This is largely based on Trump’s tendency to loathe sharing the national spotlight, as well as the inevitable friction you get when two titanically large egos — both of whom came into this 2024 alliance with wealth, fame, and political muscle — become so intertwined.
There are some Republican figures who predict Musk might just get bored and bail…
Musk’s support for Trump in 2024 has always appeared opportunistic. Two years ago, he was arguing that the one-term president was “too old” to hold the office again and should “sail into the sunset,” prompting Trump to insult him and “his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocket ships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless.” …
Now, Trump finds himself practically joined at the hip to the world’s richest man, from the links at Trump International Golf Club to ringside seats at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event. He continues to praise Musk, even while joking that he “can’t get him out of here.”
If we are already getting anonymous "holy shit this guy is annoying" stories I'm not sure Elon Musk makes it to Inauguration Day in Trump's inner circle. He might be on a 2016 Transition Chair Chris Christie arc www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn…
— Jay Willis (@jaywillis.net) November 13, 2024 at 12:06 PM
Also big reductions in overhead matched by big reductions in revenue
— Chatham Harrison is sowing what seeds he can (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 8:00 PM
I have an idea to improve government efficiency: don’t give a billionaire $50 million to write a blog post about how we need to cut social security
— James Medlock (@jdcmedlock.bsky.social) November 12, 2024 at 9:07 PM
Useful reminder also that all of our Silicon Valley oligarchs owe their careers to American tax dollars and government research. https://t.co/qg1eoOu6Ts
— Timothy Snyder (@TimothyDSnyder) November 20, 2024
I feel like this is underpriced
manifold.markets/semver/will-…— James Medlock (@jdcmedlock.bsky.social) November 17, 2024 at 11:41 PM
This is Trump code for he's going to throw him into the sea https://t.co/s8efsHQeJ8
— cai (@AnneNotation) November 13, 2024
War for Ukraine Day 1,002: Russia Responds with an Experimental Medium Range Ballistic Missile
SpaceUnit
Schadenfreude is all well and good, but this country is still fucked.
scav
@SpaceUnit: Ululating and sackcloth won’t fix it either, so choose your poison.
SpaceUnit
@scav:
Just saying that a lovers’ spat between trump and musk won’t save us.
Jay
Rooting for fatalities.
scav
@SpaceUnit: I failed to see the suggestion everything was soon to be hunky-dory.
SpaceUnit
@scav:
I’m not sure we’re arguing.
scav
@SpaceUnit: Very likely. It’s also somewhat a question of style (eg choose your poison). Gallows humor has long had a vital role in the trenches. Some fight better and longer under that banner than the more resolutely cheery Oriflammes.
Quaker in a Basement
“His giant loser son”?
Gonna need you to be more specific.
Gloria DryGarden
@Quaker in a Basement: all I can add is if it’s a trump, it might actually BE giant. Or, at least, Huge.
or well hung?
(sorry, not sorry)
@Jay: it’s been a silent thought among many…
you know that good feeling when someone puts into words a common thought?
If only it were clear how to arrange the safest outcome for all the bystanders and common citizens in the affected areas…
Betty Cracker
So Trump subbed in former FL AG Pam Bondi as US AG nominee to replace statutory rapist Matt Gaetz. Bondi is terrible but in the common Republican way, i.e., she’s a corrupt liar who’s willing to subvert the constitution, curtail individual liberties and undermine the rule of law to consolidate power for herself and political patrons. But as far as I know, she doesn’t move teenagers across state lines for orgies.
Kathleen
@Betty Cracker: Baby steps!
Geminid
I’ve been wondering, has Trump taken many questions from reporters since the election? Any? He was looking and sounding rough the last few weeks of the campaign. That might have been stress but if it was, he ought to have bounced back by now and been out bragging to the press.
I’m not exactly complaining here, because I can’t stand the guy. And maybe I’m so averse I missed something. He has been hanging out some with people but it seems they are either loyalists, afraid of him or they want something from him.
So I wonder if Trump is being kept under wraps, like Reagan was towards the end of his presidency. Susan Wiles was around for that too.
SiubhanDuinne
@Geminid:
This is exactly what I’ve noticed and been wondering too — except that I was unaware of the Wiles-Reagan connection.
ColoradoGuy
Reminds me of the old days of Kremlin-watching. The people around Dear Leader aren’t saying what they know, and everyone is trying to one-up and deceive each other.
Musk is much more energetic and younger than the Dear Leader, and he has a (smaller) cult of his own that only partly overlaps with DL’s quasi-religious cult. I’m not too sure the two cults can be merged.
And we are talking about two oligarchs here, who are temporary allies, but have different power bases.
eclare
@Geminid:
That’s a good question. I haven’t seen any clips of him, but he could be dialing in to Fox/Newsmax all the time, and I would never know
ETA> Especially with Joe and Mika going to kiss the ring, you’d think he’d brag about that. But I think he just put out a statement.
Geminid
@SiubhanDuinne: There was a long article about Susan Wiles earlier this year in Politico Magazine. Much of it was biographical. Wiles’ first job after graduating from the University of Maryland was in Rep. Jack Kemp’s office. Kemp was a former teammate of Wiles’ father Pat Summeral.
Wiles then hired on for Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign, where she worked on his advance team and built a reputation for “making the trains run on time.” She stayed on with Reagan throughout his presidency and beyond. Wiles ended up as the retired President’s Chief of Staff, the same post she holds now with Donald Trump.
Baud
My own view is that, unless I see a public fight caught on video or some concrete action occurs, I don’t put much stock in stories based on insider gossip, none of which is trustworthy, either at the source level or the media level.
Jay
@Baud:
So, you are waiting for the book? /:
sab
@Baud: And there is no gossip as unreliable as the gossip from two narcissists’ courts fighting each other while also infighting amongst themselves. Crab buckets in snake pits.
Martin
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, but Gaetz was a clown who had no idea how to run a large agency. Bondi knows how to do the job.
See, the other side of this, which Trump is preparing for, is that a leader can only function if their staff implement their plans. This is a power struggle. A competent leader can navigate an obstinate staff. An incompetent leader can’t.
This doesn’t much apply in the private sector where you just start firing people. In the public sector, doubly so with civil servants, you can’t do that. A functioning organization requires a degree of coordination from top to bottom – that’s why they’re stable. Some Florida dipshit (pick your poison) can’t roll in take the wheel and drive off the cliff. If your greatest skill is fucking teenagers, you won’t get much done unless you have an agency of loyalists (exceedingly unlikely at DOJ even with a USA replacement). But if you’ve run an AG office for a state, it shouldn’t be too hard to get things going.
Bondi may not be quite as vindictive as Gaetz, but she’ll be way more effective tearing shit up. I’ll take the clown every day.
Ramalama
Just finished this amazing novel, “a dreamlike version of a western” called Days Without End. Brutal. Lots of killing, poverty, and so on but beautiful. Taking this as a 4 year harbinger. I’ll be lucky to have beauty. But one of the main characters is named John Cole.
Martin
@Baud: I take a slightly more generous view. If the gossip makes improbable predictions, and those come true, it’s probably correct.
TBone
I remain unconvinced by anonymous sources and speculation – the one thing Donold respects is large money, and Elno reeks of it. I do hope they’ll flame out but am not holding my breath.
p.a.
@Geminid: I was wondering this also. Even as a candidate his appearances could be curated in the media by the hate radio/Fox “news” buffer and MSM sanewashing. Alternatively the debate showed him in his natural state.
Hoping this Potemkin President attempt won’t work. Waiting for the press expolsion: “Where’s the President?” “Why won’t tRump do pressers?”… well, a boy can hope…🥴
Betty Cracker
@Martin: True. The Gaetz pick was 100% trolling. Bondi will be far more useful in setting up a durable right-wing kleptocracy.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@TBone: Trump will probably continue to tolerate Elmo because of the money. I don’t see Musk or that Ramaswamy dude being all that into the government efficiency efforts… it’s a thankless and boring job so they’ll probably spend like 5 minutes on it and give up.
Bondi is awful but so far as we know she not as awful a person as Gaetz. So even if she is somewhat more competent I feel like him withdrawing is a win. But the top of the career staff at DOJ is going to have to get used to saying “I can’t do that because it’s illegal” a lot and be willing to take a lot of tongue lashing. Ditto the defense department.
TBone
Markwayne of Oklahoma has distinguished himself again.
https://bsky.app/profile/heatherthomasaf.bsky.social/post/3lbjauqsycs2o
Gloria DryGarden
@Betty Cracker: what? Do you mean the whole gaetz pick was just to fuck with us?
different-church-lady
SHOE’S ON THE OTHER FOOT NOW, EH ASSHOLES?
TBone
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
The Purge has been planned out by the Heritage Foundation Project 2025 and there will be no one saying any such thing this time, or anything remotely contradictory to Rump. These people have been vetting loyalists for months for the takeover. They all pledge a loyalty oath as part of the job application.
When he says he will be Day One Dictator, I believe he’ll try.
https://kettering.org/the-schedule-f-threat-to-democracy-a-project-2025-explainer/
Betty Cracker
@Gloria DryGarden: I think Trump sincerely wanted Gaetz in that job. They’re two of a kind, Gaetz and Trump — pampered and lawless degenerates who feel persecuted when anyone tries to impose accountability for their crimes.
Trump isn’t strategic; he’s a creature of impulse. Bondi will do a better job wrecking the DOJ on behalf of corrupt oligarchs, and that will likely benefit Trump more than the Gaetz wrecking ball would have. But it won’t be as satisfying, I suspect.
PS: Another commenter asked me to share an email address with you. I will send it to the email you used to sign up at Balloon Juice shortly.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: gotta keep breathing. One breath at a time.
my way to get a breath, or a bubble of life-affirming positivity):
I’m running a thread on my Facebook with sweet moments from each day. Can’t seem to get anyone to join in… yet.
I just have to ask the question better, or write an enticing prompt. I don’t know, maybe everyone is still too down, and I’m providing free entertainment to my friends. And helping myself focus on the little interpersonal helping I can do.
Kathleen
@Geminid: A fascist Forest Gump?
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: your lovely, recent note to me is greatly appreciated – I hope you saw my previous thank you! And thank you for all of the positivity you contribute! 😘
Choosing gratitude is a wonderful antidote. Choosing to share wonderful moments from offline life is a great idea! I’m not on any social media but I would absolutely join in if I were.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: if people abandon their moral compass over survival, because of threats that matter, the karma department is going to be very busy.
Sometimes this shit is worse than reading the war page about Ukraine, it’s just that heartbreaking.
for a moment reading your comment, I fell into dead bug pose, helpless, on my back, despairing.
Freemark
Two things I’ll share that:
the Nazis were every bit as inefficient and chaotic as Trump’s MAGA group.
Trump in his first books talked about how he often got zoning plan exceptions approved. He would first show them what he ugly ass building for an ugly ass use he could build without exceptions and use that to get the exceptions. He may be doing the same to make his ‘replacement’ picks look more palatable.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: oh no! My intention is to present what may really happen so we’re prepared, not to paralyze anyone! Roll back over and get up dear friend, we have many weapons to use fighting back if we stick together.
BellyCat
Co-signed. Better material for The Onion’s new website, too.
TBone
@Freemark: sleight of hand.
Gloria DryGarden
@Betty Cracker: it won’t be as satisfying?
even though he’ll get to watch more damage get done, better than he dreamed of?
i have no. Patience. with remorseless rapists with no accountability, no empathy, and who would do it again in a heartbeat ..
one hears that rapists get treated pretty roughly in prison..so, one dreams of legal repercussions. Sigh. So many bummers in a row.
speaking of email sharing, would you be willing to send my email address to Yarrow? I want to tell her something, if she gives permission to give me her address. I don’t think she’s been seen on the blog since right after the election. I know a front pager has reached out to her; she had a quite worrisome comment.
BellyCat
@TBone: OT: Given your legal career travails, was any of this in PA? (Seem to recall, maybe incorrectly, that some or most was in TX?)
Princess
@SiubhanDuinne: yeah, Wiles was Reagan’s last chief of staff. She’s going to be good at giving us precisely dosed moments of Donald while other people run the show.
TBone
@BellyCat: I’m not sure what you’re referring to (which travails)? I’ve had so many 😆 I need a pointer.
I was in Texas for only one of my 30+ years in the legal field. But it was a truly edifying year.
TBone
Heads up!
The president-elect has conservative media personality Dan Bongino on his short list to take over the U.S. Secret Service.
https://newrepublic.com/post/188678/dan-bongino-trump-secret-service
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: i think of it as community building. Longevity studies show that even the little chats with strangers, the cashier, the postman, etc, all help. I’m weaving a dream catcher with these thin threads of interaction at my locality. It might be all we have left. Our relationships. And I don’t have many, so I must build.
no, was it a thank you on the blog? I stayeD off for a few days, so I might sleep, and be up in daytime, and accomplish errands and go to work. Not supposed to be on here this late. I just wrote an almost poetic slightly funny comment on the war page.
i want to work in the morning, at the same school, there were some sweet successes and connections.
Princess
We’re not going to get good appointments after defeating bad ones. But we need to celebrate defeating any appointment we can because each defeat will be perceived by Trump as a defeat and public loss of face. No need to give him the favour of assuming he’s suddenly learned how to play 3 dimensional chess.
lowtechcyclist
Oh sure he is, but he never pays up.
Unless the creditor is named Vladimir, of course.
NotMax
Just for a change, thinking of twiddling my thumbs in the other direction for a spell.
:)
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: not jojnin* the massive immigration to blue sky? I went. But it’s not become a thing. My Facebook is nearly all people I know irl. A net of mostly sweet acquaintances, friends and folks whose comments I loved so much we opened the face friend book doorvthing. Sorry I missed your note.
work takes everything. The occasional sweetness and the paycheck provide things I need.
MagdaInBlack
Some days, like this one, I think it would better to be oblivious, because, as Carly said, its the “Anticipation”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELWbkyOVPQ
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: it was a thank you here.
Building IRL face to face connection and spreading joy and positivity is VITAL and a real weapon against fascism. You go, girlfriend!
The priest from our new church telephoned to speak to hubby, and then to me, last night. We have truly chosen well! He is a pure delight and not at all “churchy.” A real, heartfelt human connection!
Making friends with the rest of the community there is on our slow and steady to do list.
VeniceRiley
Rumors, infighting, and gossip are all something Trump loves. Part of the reality show presidency season 2.
kalakal
@Freemark:
That’s been the Tory playbook for decades in the UK. Announce some batshit extreme horrible policy. When the pushback happens announce “we have listened to public concerns” and propose a ‘moderate’ version. All the msm goes “Ah, that’s reasonable” and the horrible policy is enacted to the sound of everyone patting themselves on the back as to how the government has seen reason
BellyCat
@TBone: LOL … I’m looking for some insights into an unusual discovery related to PA’s AOPC and could use some thoughts if you have any familiarity with or interest in PA court operations (and are seeking a little distraction from our National Trauma!)
NotMax
Too too perfect that the lawyer representing the women in the Gaetz matter is named Leppard., isn’t it? Each time I hear it a wry smile creeps onto the lips.
;)
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: no I won’t speak online in public anywhere but here. This is enough – the rest of my time is spent cultivating my offline, real life. You get out of it only as much effort as you put in.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: oh no, im not making you responsible. It’s just all too much. My own life has been intense for awhile. Gotta take care of that too.
my teeny tiny house, and now, because of my body changes, more clothes from the thrift store, so I can fit in something and pass, when I leave the house.
despair and I are old friends, I’m just getting tired. I don’t stay there. I get back up. Just takes longer, sometimes.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: Jesús fucking Christ.
TBone
@NotMax: 😆 I noticed that immediately also, with the same wry smile. Ok it was an LOL too!
TBone
@BellyCat: I used the AOPC website every day for years. What can I help with?
David_C
The view from inside the belly of the beast will be interesting. During the last Trump administration we flew under the radar until Covid. Now we’re a target, with people like RFK Jr and Bhattacharya (and who knows who else) slated to be in charge. First sucky thing will be not being able to telework, so sick people will show up instead of working from home. Or we’ll just take sick time. RIFs by attrition will put more work onto those who are left, leading to burnout and loss of important institutional memory. But we can suffer through that for the time being, but massive shifts of funding for medical research will cause real hurt that will be difficult to recover from. Careers are not easily restarted after four years of no funding. Misinformation coming from federal agencies can be deadly.
TBone
@kalakal: 🎯
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: god that’s so awesome. Catch their thanksgiving potluck…
tell me they, thread, comment # of your thank you? Maybe send it in email, 8 have to back to real life for a few days. New challenge, urgent deadline.
Kay
Gaetz was better for the country, IMO. Americans need to see and feel the ugliness they voted for. Bondi is lipstick on a pig – the NYTimes already has a glowing profile up about her. Working to protect this country from the consequences of this systemic rot they endorsed and enthusiastically voted for is enabling decline at this point.
Gloria DryGarden
@NotMax: that bodes well..
BellyCat
@TBone: Oh my! This is better suited for offline discussion if you’re game. Might I have a front pager email you my contact info?
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: I have no idea what thread it was in, it’s been too long and I don’t know how to search back through time on this blog. Suffice it to say that I’m glad I caught up with you here today to be sure you know you’re appreciated 💜
I have been meaning to email you but got distracted by getting ready for winter, etc. business
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: makes sense.
waspuppet
The only joy I took from the first Trump infliction was how miserable he was actually being president. That’s what I’m going to have to lean into this time too.
As for Elmo, if Uncle Vlad says he stays, he stays.
TBone
@BellyCat: absolutely!
I might be a little rusty due to retirement, but it’s like riding a bicycle. It comes right back.
BellyCat
@TBone: Truly awesome. I suspect you’ll be intrigued. Let’s just say that I spoke with the new Pa. Court Administrator for nearly one hour a couple weeks ago and she was, to put it nicely, utterly dumbfounded.
Will email WG and BC to pass my info along.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: yeah, the winter prep and change is a big deal. It comes and goes here, we had that record breaking snow the other week, but I’m still not ready.
it’s nice to be appreciated, it helps. Thank you.
TBone
@BellyCat: 👍
*rubs hands together in anticipation
Princess
@Kay: I don’t think they’re (=the ones who voted for this or were indifferent to it) are going to feel that from the nature of the people Trump puts in. They didn’t feel it from Trump himself. Gaetz wouldn’t have shamed them. They’re going to feel it from the nature of the policies that get put into place and how they affect their lives. And the program is the same no matter who the figurehead is. Bondi will do what Gaetz would have done.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: hugs!
A lot of Pennsylvania got many inches of snow overnight but we got only rain being in the Susquehanna Valley. We battened down all the hatches so we’ll be ready next time! Outside water off, outdoor furniture protected, winter clothing ready to go, feral cat shelter hay changed and snuggly cat blankets refreshed, pantry items restocked, etc.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
https://mastodon.social/@SJLahey/113524587652224860
Have a good Friday, everyone.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: sweet oblivion. Chocolate. Real life kindnesses. Sleep. Poppies, sleep.
moments of beauty, skill artistry, I’ll take any of it. Nourishment, to soften the bitterness.
MagdaInBlack
@Another Scott: Because of my mood this morning, my first thought was ” Of course the woman is doing the hard work.”
😉❤️🌻
TBone
@Another Scott: I have an entire, slickly produced color pamphlet of Bible verse and artwork from our state capitol buildings that hubby picked up at our State Rep’s office while he was there to get handicapped tags reupped. It’s her propaganda tool, with her face plastered on it also.
It is revolting. I’m taking it to my new church for refutation.
MagdaInBlack
@Gloria DryGarden: Over the years, I have learned ( slow learner) that when I stop seeking the moments of Grace, they appear to me. Simple things, like that red leaf glowing in the sun. She’s always there, just have to let her in ❤️
Gloria DryGarden
@Another Scott: reference to the war page, mention of women warriors.
i love to hear about Mary kicking ass without losing her cool. Surely not a spectator sport for the angel?
im rooting for Mary too.
hey Mary, come show us how to wrassle our demons and kick some ass in a meaningful way…
They say, if you keep your cool, you are a much more effective fighter.
maybe that was your point.
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: right?
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: like that great description of god, in the color purple. It not a she or a he… it put the color purple right out where you’ll see it. It want you to see it.
i like if I stop to notice the little grace moments. In Denver, a red leaf is a huge rare grace. Our autumn’s are yellow. How we crave the other colors…
BellyCat
@TBone: Done. Keep an eye on your email. I’ve asked to include my phone number. Email or call, as preferred. Not to oversell and underdeliver, but this “judicial steak” has been on the grill for more than three decades and is now cooked to Pittsburgh Rare: burnt and crispy on the outside, and blood red on the inside.
Kay
@Princess:
I disagree. They want respectability. They don’t want just power – they want to be “the norm” and outlets like the NYTimes are more than happy to give it to them.
Bondi just puts a veneer of respectability on a rotten project. I think the time for veneers has passed.
TBone
@BellyCat: I will watch for it! I usually prefer email, as it gives me time to think, rethink, edit, refine, etc.
But it’s not good for any expectation of privacy. At this point, neither is any phone.
BellyCat
Would that you were right. However, it likely that “veneer” is the new “orange” given Trumps handlers are much better prepared for this new timeline than they were for the last.
MagdaInBlack
@Gloria DryGarden: This thing we call god, we are all of us immersed in “it.”
❤️
Kay
The only federal employees I’ve seen resign due to their personal beliefs and ethics were the liberals who resigned due to Biden’s ethnic cleansing policy in Gaza.
I wouldn’t count on career DOJ employees to defend the Constitution – they didn’t in Trump’s first term. Lawyers have been the biggest cowards of all the last ten years – they aren’t going to rise to the occasion now. It ain’t in ‘em.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: 💙❤️💜
That is how I believe it might work – we were created so it could exist and vice versa.
BellyCat
@TBone: Understood. I’m driving pretty much all day (PGH to Central PA, then back to PGH), and am with kiddo all weekend. Will try to respond when I can, but if you run out of patience feel free to call. You will have MANY questions, that much I can promise! LOL
Need to log off and get going. Ciao for niao….
TBone
I’m almost afraid to read my daily a.m. Heather Cox Richardson. So here’s some Marc Elias. Senator Casey has the spunk we need!
Kay
@BellyCat:
Right. But liberals shouldn’t participate in it. IMO. The one thing we have that they don’t have is a connection to reality – a willingness to look at hard truths. I don’t think “liberalism” or “norms” or people’s notions of “the United States” will necessarily survive but I know truth will eventually prevail. We should be on the side of the truth. It’ll hold up (eventually)
TBone
@BellyCat: ciao!
I was complimented on my ability to ask intelligent questions in a law office references letter written for me upon my return to PA from Texas.
Sometimes we get the answers that way! Sometimes serendipity comes into play.
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack:
thats got me all breathing deeply in a bubble of safe, a sweet river of golden light on calm waters.
perhaps worth weaving into a poem.
NotMax
Color me gobsmacked. Ducked into the nearest supermarket and saw that both fresh sweet potatoes and fresh cranberries, were on sale at a very attractive price.
Why do I suspect they’ll be upped to double that next week?
TBone
@NotMax: get ’em now!
I paid $5 last week for a large bag of fresh cranberries that are now in my freezer.
Just reminded me of a good read in my inbox today:
https://oldster.substack.com/p/my-proustian-madeleine-lives-in-the
Her madeleines are found in the veggie aisle.
I subscribe to the “Oldster” email
newsletter.sab
@VeniceRiley: Part of life with a narcissist boss. The infighting for his attention is the whole and only point for him.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone:
this, you could work into a story, a fiction piece, exploring…
how humans came to invent and or perceive something greater than themselves that they needed, or hung their hopes on, to weave stories around it to make sense out of the wild unfolding senselessness and terror of it all….
or to weave themselves int8 a story about it, as a sure thing, giving them identity, supplying their needs..
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: i did just start to read heather. Shit…
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: should I go there?
I have to get ready to go get my new photo ID driver’s license Real ID today. Best to get there early…
Heather will have to wait, I guess.
PS it started really snowing here! ❄️
I can’t write fiction YET because of my politics addiction. It’s a time sink.
mrmoshpotato
Dump is going to throw the apartheid shitstain into the sea?
Is that out of a 5th story window into the sea like his daddy Vladdy would do?
mrmoshpotato
@TBone:
Is Cleveland coming to town to play football?
eclare
@mrmoshpotato:
Who knows? But I don’t see how two such narcissistic people stay friends for long. I keep coming back to ETTD. It has worked every time, the only variable is how long it takes.
Kay
I have a friend Sarah, she’s a federal employee who works remotely and she is terrified Elon Musk is going to fire her for no reason. She’s smart as a whip l, hard working, and unlike Elon Musk or Donald Trump earned a graduate degree in a challenging field. She also has a 3 year old, hence her fear of getting fired.
I just cannot stand how arrogant our repulsive billionaires are. Demeaning this person’s work is disgusting.
I am absolutely bitter. Yup. 100%.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: heather will still be there.
time sink indeed. At 2 am, I said, oh just one perk, it’ll probably be all downer and bickering jackals. And now it’s 6 am, wrote comments on 3 threads, copied lines from you all to make a poem, got inspired, uplifted, and tired.
And I’d like to work. School’s out next week.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Geminid:
JFC, another reprehensible person who got their start with Reagan.
40+ years later and we’re still paying the price for electing that bastard.
Another Scott
@Kay: There are still civil service protections.
Government is slow. Changes won’t happen quickly. They tried to push Schedule F before and it was slow walked and then killed.
DON’T PANIC. [/hhgttg]
Hang in there.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Starfish (she/her)
@Baud: This is wise. A lot of the “news” out of the last Trump administration was gossip by people engaging in fights with each other.
Gloria DryGarden
@Another Scott: May you be entirely correct in this implied prediction.
government jobs used to be considered on of the most steady and reliable. Sheesh. Stability for the nation, and for the employees.
Gloria DryGarden
@mrmoshpotato: the sea is interesting.
I heard there were sharks. And live electricity flowing into the waters. There are so many ways to go.
(earlier, someone mentioned,
um,
never mind, forgot )
NotMax
@TBone
Bags of cranberries were 2 for $7. Unheard of. Had already bought some earlier in the month. Sadly, freezer space is precious in this household so had to pas,.
Actually went in to get sweet potatoes (Thursday is senior discount day) and a small container of orange juice for the sweet potato casserole. Potatoes( (already cooked), butter, OJ, maple syrup and Grand Marnier (or Drambuie) all mashed together and baked for a reasonable amount of time.
Geminid
The Associated Press currently has the new House of Representatives at 219 R, 213 D with three races yet to be called. In the California 13th CD, Democrat Adam Gray trails Rep. John Duarte by 196 votes with 97% counted. Democrat Derek Tran leads Rep. Michelle Steel by 480 votes in the California 45th CD, with 98% counted.
The third undecided race is the southeastern Iowa 1st CD. Republican Rep. Marriannette Miller-Meeks had a lead of ~800 votes (I think). I’m guessing there is a recount happening and that’s why the race has not been called.
Soprano2
QFT. People need to see that TCFG surrounds himself with the absolute worst people – cranks and crackpots, corrupt criminals and rapists and the absolute worst. That’s what they voted for when they voted to go back to 2019, and they need to understand what they did.
I also think how Congress acts is going to be illuminating. Either they’ll be Congress or the Duma. I’m not hopeful they’ll choose to be Congress.
Gloria DryGarden
@NotMax: those cranberries would so hold for a week in the fridge. Or could make the relish thing in advance, or dehydrate..
Starfish (she/her)
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: An efficient government is not a resilient government. There are particular offices that have come after Elon Musk in the past, and he will be deeply interested in dismantling those. For example, the SEC. The FTC, the FEC, and US Fish and Wildlife.
tobie
Has Bondi won major cases that worked their way through the appeals process to SCOTUS? I can imagine she has been a holy terror in Flordia but she was dealing there with a much more compliant state court system. I don’t know how she’ll fare with cases that go to the DC or 9th Circuit. No doubt the Fed Soc will provide her with lists of attorneys to hire and no doubt the idea of non-political appointees is out the window. Still, Bondi strikes me as a middling intellect who will make big mistakes in a job requiring scrupulous attention to detail.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, a reminder that Africa is Big.
Our perceptions of reality are shaped by our culture. But reality is separate, facts matter, and the truth will come out. And cultural change happens.
That can apply to other things, also too.
Hang in there and have a good Friday, everyone.
Best wishes,
Scott.
TBone
@NotMax: YUM I too make a sweet potatoes casserole (like scalloped potatoes, using my mandolin for thin slices) with real maple syrup and butter. You have inspired me to expand that! I put chilled mandarin orange slices in my homemade cranberry relish just before serving. Now I’m gonna add a glug of Gran Marnier to the scalloped maple sweet potatoes.
They melt in your mouth!
Gloria DryGarden
@NotMax: sweet potatoes.
my opinion.
they put me on that side dish and I really won’t make the sugar marshmallow thing.
sliced, steamed, PLAIN.
serve with options: soy sauce, fish sauce, gravy, salt, butter or coconut oil.
MY opinion. YMMV
though I did once contemplate a combo recipe w sweet potatoes, cranberries, lemon. The sweet potato sweetens the cranberry. .. it didn’t quite come together, but i tried
ok, for dessert, I’ll try the maple syrup on sweet potatoes. But then it needs chopped walnuts or pecans. Maybe with ginger.. but for dessert.
ps they tried to get me to do stupid shit to the rutabagas, but I refused, arrived with plain mashed rutabagas, salt and pepper, butter. They were surprised, but liked it.
Jeffg166
@Gloria DryGarden:
I bake the sweet potatoes then whip them with the food processor. I have been asked what I did with them they tasted so good. My answer is nothing. Cooked and served.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: if there were a lemon liquor, I’d try that.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Geminid: I didn’t know Iowa 1 was yet to be called. It’s the NE district, actually. We used to live there.
Soprano2
I agree. They want to dominate the culture, which is why they’re so fixated on “woke”. They want everyone to acknowledge that they’re the norm, the regular, the way things should be. People need to see what they actually are. I think normal people will be repelled. Democrats should still tell people that TCFG wanted a suspected sex trafficker for the top law enforcement person in the U.S. I think the only way for people to learn now is to have their faces rubbed in it. I hate that, but I don’t know any other way to do it.
Starfish (she/her)
@TBone: I am pretty sure Casey has conceded.
Soprano2
Do you think that’s because the nature of the job is to try to see things from the best view for the client regardless of what your moral beliefs tell you?
NotMax
@Gloria DryGarden
For everyday baked sweet potatoes, pineapple-apricot jam as a topping is stupendous.
Or for something exotic, crumbled feta cheese as a topping.
Gloria DryGarden
@Starfish (she/her): I hate when people concede, when it’s close, but there are more votes to count. The guy running against Lauren boebert did that, two years ago. It was close, too.
Betty Cracker
One thing to know about Bondi is that she was a lobbyist for the private prison industry. That’ll come in handy.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Another Scott:
I’m living proof of that. Wait em out. Al Gore tried to outsource me in 2000 during his “Reinventing Government” BS. The Bushies implemented that on steroids. I hung around, appealed decisions and generally refused to budge, holding out until those bastards were gone.
The problem is that with the House, Felonious D can basically re-implement what the Bushies were doing (outsource everything not nailed down) legislatively, then implement via the Exec Branch.
One reason I lasted is that our agency grandfathered us in initially…and then put pressure on our managers to find ways to ease us out. The managers also played something of a waiting game. When we retook the House in 05, Nancy Smash put a stop to the Bushies BS.
Quite frankly, I was amazed the Orange Fart Cloud didn’t do that in his first term. Toward the end, there was some initial movement but he’d never get any passed legislatively in 2019/20 so nothing happened.
That could easily change next year, again I saw this play out in 2001/3. That being said, any fellow Fed who’s rated “competitive service” should always wait things out, it’s an amazingly great tool as you’ll still be around and these shitbags will be gone. If we’re lucky, the House/Senate reverts to (D) control in 2 years and then all of this is moot.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jeffg166: plain, but whipped? No butter, maybe just salt? The texture alone might be a dream..
Ken B
@Quaker in a Basement: As long as Vance is VP, I think Trump’s going to keep at least one of his loser sons close.
Somebody needs to act as food taster.
Kay
@Another Scott:
How am I “panicking”? I’m not a federal employee. The two federal employees I know personally in NW Ohio are concerned for their jobs – that’s entirely rational.
What we have is truth. Their concerns and fears are well-founded. Truthful. Minimizing to make everyone feel better is moving away from truth. I have one Trump era lodestar and it is simple truth. Every other norm and guardrail has failed.
different-church-lady
Hey I got a crazy idea: maybe this time we don’t put all our information eggs in a basket some billionaire asshole can break in one swipe.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jeffg166: plain, but whipped? No butter, maybe just salt? The texture alone might be a dream..
@NotMax: pineapple apricot jam on sweet potatoes sounds amazing….
where can I get some, I’ve never seen it?
Of course, I could substitute lemon marmalade…
Soprano2
@Kay: The absolute cluelessness of these people is what appalls me. The idea of firing people based on the last number of their SS# regardless of what their job is tells me that these people are not good managers or smart businesspeople, not at all! I go back to the Hidden Brain podcast I heard where they interviewed a woman who worked as a wealth manager for billionaires. Those people live in a completely different world than we do, and they mostly see regular people as petty annoyances they have to put up with sometimes. She said they don’t even have an allegiance to a country, that they seem to have their own country and float above everyone else. They see governments and laws as petty things that they can brush aside or control with money. They act like Olympian gods.
NotMax
@Gloria DryGarden
When I was teaching high school in Minnesota, there was an elderly guy on the faculty who would bring in a a brown bag lunch, which would often consist of raw rutabaga he’d eat like an apple.
He called them “rutabaggies.”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Casey has conceded. I guess it wasn’t as much in Franken territory as we’d all hoped for:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/pennsylvania-senate-race-casey-concedes/index.html
Ksmiami
@Jay: for all of them, Katie
eclare
@Another Scott:
Wow!
Gloria DryGarden
@NotMax: no, i don’t think I’ll try that. But my ex used to eat whole onions raw like it was an apple.
Kay
Amanda Marcotte has a piece up where she credits the “me too” movement with Gaetz’s stepping down from consideration.
This kind of delusional clinging to a “win” just makes me sad and makes me think she’s not going to a useful ally for what’s ahead. We don’t need people to tell us feel good stories. The time when that useful has passed. It’s a dark time for women. Step one to surviving it is admitting it.
NotMax
@comrade scotts agenda of rage
There’s no joy in Mudvillle.
Gloria DryGarden
@different-church-lady: could you add just a tiny bit more detail to clarify. Not getting the all info in one basket reference
eclare
@NotMax:
If you’re going exotic, go really exotic: curry powder!
Gloria DryGarden
@NotMax: what did you teach in high school?
Starfish (she/her)
@Kay: I think it was a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy quote inappropriately deployed. I have experienced this in the past as well.
Sometimes, you will be talking about real concerns, and some people think it is an appropriate time to quote Douglas Adams to you. They think it will make you feel better, but it just shows that they are not really considering what you are saying.
Gloria DryGarden
@eclare: gonna try that. Curry on sw potatoes. Yumm. Has potential. Green beans, Brussels sprouts. Etc
Starfish (she/her)
@Soprano2: This is one of my major concerns.
I am afraid that we have let oligarchs become more powerful than nation-states, and that this fact will be destabilizing.
I WereBear
@TBone: one way to get rid of rivals
Kay
@Soprano2:
It is SO disrespectful and arrogant.
I am so, so tired of these bros and how they denigrate everyone’s work but their own.
narya
As long as we’re talking sweet potatoes, I did a test run last week of using sweet potatoes to make “roses”: basically, thin (mandolin) slices, microwaved just enough to soften them, then assembled in a muffin tin and baked. Complete and utter pain in the ass to assemble, but pretty, so I’ll likely do some for Thursday. I tried some with butternut squash too, and those didn’t work nearly as well. (I have purple potatoes in the fridge, which would be my choice, but Downstairs Neighbor, who’s hosting, wants sweet potatoes.) For some, I put some roasted spaghetti squash in the center to make it look like the center of a flower. Don’t know what else I’ll be making; we’re deciding tonight, over a bottle of wine.
NotMax
@Gloria DryGarden
Mandatory American History course for 11th graders . There was much less history to cover back then.
;)
David_C
@Kay: Considering they are remote, their concern is real. Undoing Schedule F would not be immediate, but making people be physically present 5 days a week could happen sooner and could lead to hardship – and people quitting. There’s also the fear of having to go against an agency’s mission to satisfy a given leader.
No panic here, but concern, stress, and loss of sleep. And defiance.
Starfish (she/her)
@Kay: Right now, there are a lot of “Feel good stories” like all the “Trump voters regret their decisions” ones where fake Trump voters lose their jobs or holiday bonuses due to anticipated tariffs.
The only real job loss I have seen has been someone losing their job in a company that was focused on climate change.
Another Scott
@Kay: My reply was on the general topic and to those feeling doomed. Sorry that wasn’t clear.
Sorry you feel that way, but that’s overstating the situation. IMHO.
Biden is still president for 59 days.
We can have legitimate fears and concerns about the future, but the future is not here yet. The details of what happens in the next Congress and administration are not known and they matter as it affects how we fight the bad things. Being excessively doomy before anything has even happened is not the way forward, IMHO. We have to keep our wits about us and build resiliency for the battles to come.
As I said, they tried this Schedule F stuff before and failed. We don’t know the future, but we know that big changes in government do not happen easily. James Watt wasn’t able to do all the bad things he wanted to do at Interior for Reagan, for example.
Bad things will likely happen, but we can still fight them. We’re not doomed.
My $0.02. YMMV.
Best wishes,
Scott.
I WereBear
The easiest thing in the world is to be handed a big bunch of money and make more.
But not when you have delusions of grandeur. That’s why our dynasties degenerate into crazed madness by round three or four.
No reality feedback. It’s forbidden.
Another Scott
@Starfish (she/her): Sorry.
See my additional reply at #156 below, er, above.
Best wishes,
Scott.
WereBear
I don’t know how I changed my nym but “I WereBear l” does have a certain ring.
Anyway
@eclare: Yep, Can’t stand marshmallowed sweet potatoes. Mash sweet pots with a smidge of Thai curry paste and cream takes them out of this world.
DougL
@Kay:
Nothing to really say except I wanted you to know how much I value your posts. I always find them insightful and clear-eyed. Thank you for sharing them.
Soprano2
@Starfish (she/her): A lot of TCFG voters seem to believe he’s already president and has already improved the economy. /s/s/ I read one car salesman credited TCFG with the 9 cars he sold after the election, because he said people “just feel better now”. So the truth is they could have bought those cars last week, but they didn’t because they felt bad? I roll my eyes.
eclare
@Anyway:
I use curry powder and a pat of butter, but same principle: add some spice to offset the sweet and add just a bit of fat. Delish.
Soprano2
@Another Scott: I do agree that we have to remember that TCFG and his minions don’t have superpowers. No obeying in advance.
Layer8Problem
@Starfish (she/her): “Don’t Panic”, Douglas Adams or not, is actually useful advice. Things can be bad and one’s feelings can be hopeless, but a calm word or two can help. Assuming it’s just thoughtless diminishing of someone’s fears is a bit extreme. I know, extreme times.
Starfish (she/her)
@Another Scott: Scott, I want you to think about stuff like this.
There are a lot of men who told women not to worry during the last Trump administration. A lot of it felt like “women are too emotional.”
I think this time around, like last time around, a lot of things that people might be doing to self-soothe, are coming across as condescending.
“You don’t know that they won’t achieve the bad ends that they want to achieve” is not at all comforting when states are letting women die in hospital parking lots and then disbanding their state organization that is supposed to be looking at maternal mortality.
Gloria DryGarden
@narya: it sounds beautiful. Can you send watergirl a food porn photograph?
will you brush oil on them before baking? Bake until crispy? Or just soft, w water in the cups to steam first…
WereBear
I agree with the view that all these MAGA cultists have lost their religion and are desperate to get it back. The scandals of both the Catholic and Protestant clergy, in areas dominated by Confederate dogma, has shredded minds who hate advances in science. Which we’ve also had a lot of, lately.
The religion is the culture in red states, so they are dealing with mental earthquakes. Much like Europe in the wake of two world wars.
The European experience then is happening here, now. Because we didn’t get the Marshall plan. These folks like to be lied to.
It’s all they know.
Starfish (she/her)
@Layer8Problem: Perhaps we are not panicking. Perhaps we are sharing information and making plans?
Gloria DryGarden
@Starfish (she/her): I agree with both of you.
what layer 8 said.
both, and
narya
@Gloria DryGarden: BUTTER FTW! I oiled the cups of the muffin tin, but brushed butter on the potatoes. I didn’t steam them, because I wanted some crispy edges. Yes, I will provide photos!
Gloria DryGarden
A friend just sent me this poem by a fourth grader. Knocked my socks off. Don’t have the child’s name.
“I am done with watching the world burn
Life, help me to Live
all I want is to run in the
Wild
the way I did when I was
not afraid.
Lucy,
Wild lynx, say it:
I am not afraid“
Kay
@David_C:
I was a manager in the postal service so disrespecting one’s work is something I’m familiar with.
The postal service is an enormous logistical operation and the US postal service does a better job than just about any other country. About one in three of the parcels I send to my son in Denmark never arrive. Denmark is half the size of Ohio.
I spent my entire postal service tenure listening to people tell me what a bad job we were doing. My sympathies. It sucks.
narya
@Kay: I love our postal service–truly. When I was in grad school, I remember folks from other countries telling horror stories about their (lack of) postal services.
Kay
@David_C:
Wait until the Trump voters figure out that remote work meant we could hire people in rural areas for federal jobs.
In other words, we could hire Trump voters. Democrats said this, over and I er. Voters chose to ignore it. Can’t cure stupid, as my granny used to say.
Princess
@Kay: They voted for a convicted rapist surrounded by criminals. He replaced a sex trafficker with a woman to accepted a bribe. Gaetz fell because Republicans don’t like him personally, not because of me too or liberal pressure. They’re fine with all of this — not just MAGA but the squishy normies who claim they voted for him over egg prices. Nothing will horrify them. Only their own economic collapse will shake them.
Gloria DryGarden
@narya: drooling in advance.
i also love sweet potatoes roasted, rubbed in oil, then bake hot, for longer than you think. Eat as finger food. Curry dipping sauce not required. Pollyanna used to make them for me.
Cut them in chunks, quadrilateral tetrahedron-like shapes, triangular sorts of faces. Whatever your chain saw will cut them into.
careful..
Now I’m thinking about plum jam, of all things, made into sauce w a dash of Chile, or some ginger juice…
while we’re roasting veggies, I have to recommend parsnips, roasted. Cut in irregular rounds, a rolling diagonal cut. Not perpendicular circle cuts, that stops the energy. Manna from heaven.
Gloria DryGarden
@Kay: we lost 50% of the letters my mom sent to me when I was in Uruguay. And I think some packages, too. It was in 76, right after the military takeover.
she was religious about writing me every week. I git about half of them.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I will note Trump looked like shit health-wise in his You Tube commercials and that shocked me considering that was best they could do with a staged event.
Omnes Omnibus
@tobie: The AG doesn’t argue cases. The role is administrative.
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I may have gotten Rep. Miller-Meeks’ CD number wrong.
Geminid
@Geminid: I got the CD number right but the location wrong. The Iowa first CD covers east-central Iowa and includes the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf along the Mississippi River.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Bill Arnold
@Jay:
I will note that Mr. Trump is generally clueless about physical combat, but he does have some solid club-swinging skills.
(Saying this only because I’m sure that this has occurred occasionally to Mr. Trump himself.)
Another Scott
@David_C:
Speaking of defiance, I caught a minute or so of a C-Span segment this morning talking with Everett Kelley about various proposed changes to the federal workforce. They’re watching carefully and getting prepared.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Bill Arnold
@Another Scott:
A Federal return-to-office mandate would effectively be a mass layoff.
Another Scott
@Bill Arnold: Yeahbut, that’s not as easy as they think.
I know of folks working remotely for a government office. Their home and their office are a few thousand miles apart. And they do critical work. And they cannot quickly or easily be replaced. And if they don’t do the work, then the non-lefty essential mission does not get done.
I think that people really don’t understand how difficult change, especially rapid change, is in large organizations.
Yes, Congress could rewrite all kinds of laws and give the President all kinds of power to fire people and strip civil service protections. We have a system of government where the legislature writes the laws and the executive carries them out – for good and ill. But it’s not in their interest to do so, not least because they want to be re-elected. If this stuff were easy, it would have been done long ago.
Yes, again, there are probably going to be some additional bad things coming in the next few weeks, months, years. It’s going to be horrible for too many people. But we, and the giant system, still have power to resist them and we need to be thinking about ways to do that.
Hang in there, everyone.
Best wishes,
Scott.
The Truffle
@SpaceUnit: The best we can hope for is that these people are too busy with infighting to get much done.