Marisa Kabas has the news that the Office of Management and Budget rescinded their memo that froze federal funding for grants, etc. (That “etc.” is doing a lot of work because I don’t think anyone knows exactly everything that was frozen.)
However, as Georgetown Law Professor Vladeck notes on BlueSky, this does not mean that the Executive Order that was the basis for the OMB memo has been rescinded:
1. The executive orders did *not* freeze federal funding.
2. The Monday OMB memo *did* freeze federal funding.
3. OMB rescinded Monday’s memo, thereby rescinding the funding freeze.
4. The EOs (which did not freeze federal funding) are still in effect—and, for these purposes, irrelevant.
Sigh.
— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 12:51 PM
From what I can tell, this means that OMB touched a hot stove, and recoiled. They’re going to back to the drawing board and craft a much more limited and targeted memo, which is why this is a partial back-down. This was the way it worked in Trump I and there’s no reason to think it’s going to change in Trump II: overreach, outcry, partial back down, lather, rinse repeat.
Yesterday I re-tweeted a bunch of good messaging from Democrats on BlueSky, but there was also plenty of plain old outrage from all corners of the Internet. Certainly the LeopardsAteMyFace subreddit had a field day with all of the Trump voters who were affected by this memo. “I didn’t vote for that! I only wanted the bad people to get hurt!” was the general tone of the examples posted there.
The lesson I’m taking home from this is that loud, noisy opposition which points out consequences works.
If you’re feeling like calling a Senator or Representative, then calling to say “keep up the good work” would be another call you could make if your Sen / Rep made some good noise.
A little story about the history of this blog: During the fight for the ACA, Tim F, who was a front-pager and doesn’t post here anymore, would regularly suggest specific actions to call your reps about when certain bills / amendments / whatever came up for a vote. In addition to being a longstanding tradition of the blog, I can verify from personal experience that Sens / Reps keep track of calls, sentiment and volume, and that informs the actions of the Sen / Rep. Does it always change their vote? Of course not, but I’m not about to abandon a worthwhile and useful tradition.
Update: That tweet (above) from his new press liar was cited by the judge who granted a restraining order even though the memo was supposedly withdrawn. Toe, stubbed.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Plus, short of suddenly coming into billions of dollars one could use to (maybe) help out on our side in any variety of ways, it’s one of the few, and by far the easiest, ways Democrats can remain actively opposed to what’s going on.
Or, if you’re a woman for example, join “Run For Something” (one of my neighbors did that and she’s now a Denver City Councilwoman) and commit your life to changing things. Okay, not everybody’s cut out for that so start small, call your House/Senate persons.
John S.
I’m happy to call my Representative and Senators. If I expect them to represent me, the least I can do is let them know where I stand.
Otherwise, how would they know besides my vote every 2 or 6 years?
Starfish (she/her)
So I was trying to find a non-political podcast, and I started listening to this Sawbones episode about whooping cough, and they are just dragging the governor of West Virginia and also Jim Justice.
Jackie
And the next shock and awe begins:
Sorry to go off topic right out of the gate.
Trollhattan
Meanwhile, because it’s so sunny there!
Won’t bother asking how one provides water, sewer, food, shelter to 30k people magically appearing at some remote island outpost. I’m sure the prison industrial complex is on this. Or maybe a mothballed carrier just offshore.
Trollhattan
@Jackie: Jinx!
@mistermix.bsky.social
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Another thing that happened in my neighborhood in suburban Rochester was that a group of women banded together via Facebook to support candidates for the town board, which had before then been almost exclusively populated by Republicans. They were pretty successful by just networking via social media and via good old fashioned shoe leather. One person ran, many people helped.
E.
@Jackie: If we make it out of this without becoming a dystopian slave state, that will be a win.
sixthdoctor
Steve LaBonne
I hope the plaintiffs are heading back to court to ask the judge to clarify that all funding must restart immediately.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@E.:
Heh heh, now that’s the epitome of the statement “Inner Peace Thru Lowered Expectations”…and can’t really argue against that. ;)
Also too, nominated!
John S.
@sixthdoctor:
Live by the tweet, die by the tweet.
hells littlest angel
So I pick up the ball and I throw it to Naturally.
suzanne
For all the Very Serious Forecasting that Trump 2.0 would be more effective and efficient — that he had Learned Things — it sure reminds me of the absolute shitshow last time.
hells littlest angel
I mean, who ever heard of undocumented people somehow getting from Cuba to the US?
Jackie
@Trollhattan: You owe me a Coke! Lol
sixthdoctor
@John S.: Yep.
Betty
@Trollhattan: You think the Cubans will supply the post?
Trollhattan
KMN. From the third floor I can only hear the squadron of leaf blowers in the parking lot plus the car alarms being set off by the leaf blowers.
Let it be noted the trees have been leafless since December.
Betty
@sixthdoctor: Clown show hardly covers the absurdity of this Administration.
Marcopolo
Third & final post I will repost Call your Senators NOW to oppose the nomination of RFK jr to run DHHS.
My calls (2 R senators) & my 91 year old mom’s (who I helped) both went to voicemail, call volume is high, they are tallying yes/nos. My mom actually got to say she remembered pre-vaccine times & had friends affected by polio.
Anyway, everyone fucking call—particularly if you have one or two R senators.
Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Feel free to share w/ friends & family
tam1MI
Round where I live folks use leaf blowers to blow snow off sidewalks.
SiubhanDuinne
O/T, Menendez got 11 years.
Quinerly
@Betty: Trumpers are (seriously) arguing on line that Dylan MUST change his lyrics in “Key West” and anyone who now covers “Cripple Creek” they must change the lyrics.
We are living in stupid times.
Old School
@SiubhanDuinne:
For bribery? I thought that was legal now.
Steve LaBonne
@Jackie: Generally, “most people don’t know” about things that don’t actually exist.
Belafon
@Jackie: Yeah, I doubt there are 30k beds there.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: Good. And lord, what a moron that greedy, corrupt fuck is. He skated once when he should’ve gone down. A smarter person would have taken that as a sign to keep his nose clean. Oh well, at least NJ got an upgrade out of the deal.
NotMax
@Quinerly
Forget about anything by Marvin Gaye.
//
Trollhattan
@Betty Cracker: Blaming it all on the wife was a festive final touch. NJ are their own reality in many ways.
Quinerly
@NotMax:
Chuckle emoji.
Peale
I did like to find out that part of our international aid includes funding a prison in Syria where we have 10,000 ISIS combatants and that freezing that funding might just mean that they wouldn’t be held.
Trollhattan
@Betty: Hard to imagine them playing along but IDK how Gitmo actually works, being a little enclave carved out of a nation with which we have less than cordial relations.
Yet another thing Obama did right so Donny had to strangle.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@suzanne:
It’s just going faster now, because they did do some “prep” — not in-depth, not quality, but they did prep. They got their clowns into place quicker, they didn’t waste time appointing people who aren’t going to toe the line, etc.
There’s a band from Denver called Dressy Bessy and they have an album “Faster, Faster Disaster” which I think captures the spirit of Trump II.
E.
@Trollhattan: There are still people there though. Some haven’t even been sentenced. I think all the remaining ones have been tortured. It’s so gross.
Peale
@Trollhattan:
That and lots of Cuban voters deciding that Castro being dead wasn’t enough.
dmsilev
Everyone here got an email yesterday from the university administration saying, more or less “we don’t know what the fuck is going on” (albeit using somewhat more professional language), and more importantly we should assume that until we get official stop-work orders from the program officers directly responsible for individual research grant programs, we should keep operating.
Even the new and slightly-more-competently-evil Trump administration doesn’t seem to actually understand the government and how it works.
UncleEbeneezer
Since this is an OT figured I’d share an update for anyone wondering/interested:
We made it to Taos and are settling in. The tennis community for the club I will be working at threw us a welcome party last Thursday that was great. Everyone was real friendly, cool, no MAGA vibes at all. But of course we did end up talking about the fire a lot because people are curious.
Been spending almost every waking hour getting NM residency stuff, PO Box, and tennis stuff (online trainings, fingerprinting etc) all in order for my job and making umpteen trips to pick up packages, unbox them and put furniture together. Feels like we’ve been running at break-neck speed ever since we fled the fire. Looking forward to the time when we finally can breathe again.
I’ve gotten to hit with some students and my boss a couple times and it was nice to get out and play some tennis to feel a bit normal again. Once I start coaching regularly that will make me feel much more sane.
Insurance claim has been submitted and State Farm says they will likely pay our full amount! Ideally FEMA will cover the rest but of course who knows with that! Once that happens I will start replacing my $10K or so of music instruments. Making a list now of stuff I need right away to be able to rehearse/gig if I find projects to do so vs. longer term stuff that can wait. While doing so it dawned on me that I lost my drum kit that I owned since 1994 (ish) in the fire :( I reached out to the drum company who made it and hopefully they will cut me a major discount to get another one of their kits. It’s a small/boutique drum shop in Salem MA and I’d love to keep playing their stuff instead of a big manufacturer (Pearl, Yamaha etc.) if possible.
Went to see my buddies band on Saturday which was fun but later than we are used to being out. Really itching to meet some good musicians and start playing because it looks like people here are very into live music.
Checking in here and at Bluesky every now and then but mostly trying not to micro-focus on Trump and all the bad shit going on. I did 8 years of organizing/activism etc., and I deserve (and need) a break.
bjacques
@Jackie: I call shenanigans, and I do not do so lightly. Wikipedia says the place held at most about 700 people at its peak. Yeah, no.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Reading that makes me want to vomit. Pretty sure that will mean permanent incarceration, no trials.
Trollhattan
@Peale:
True, I suspect some will probably die there, never being adjudicated. The Naval Base has about 8.500 personnel so it’s a significant installation.
Old School
@UncleEbeneezer: Thanks for the update! Here’s hoping things settle down for you soon.
Peale
Yeah. That guy who has snuck into the country 4 times to try to get to work picking strawberries needs to be locked up immediately without trial and the key thrown away.
But yeah, if these “dangerous super criminal illegal aliens” commit crimes in the US, they need to be tried and sentenced here where the crimes were. You can’t expect the countries he’s sending them back to to go “Whoa. The US says you’re a criminal without any evidence but that they say so. So of course, you get a life sentence here.”
hells littlest angel
The poor misunderstood Nazis ran into this same problem in their conquest of Eastern Europe. Sadly, they had no other choice but to implement a solution.
rikyrah
Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) posted at 2:02 PM on Wed, Jan 29, 2025:
To federal employees eyeing Trump’s federal employee buyout scheme, consider this:
We don’t even have a budget in place. Trump lacks the appropriations to fund his promises.
Buyout authority has a $25K limitation, by law.
(https://x.com/SenWhitehouse/status/1884693598865674467?s=03)
Steve in the ATl
In related news, I was just contacted by a casting director (for real!) to be on a show called the 1% Club on Fox. I know that I ooze charisma and am super intelligent, but WTF?
tam1MI
@UncleEbeneezer: So glad to hear you are doing well! When you do get a chance to take a breath, give yourself time to.process your emotions. You probably have some and your life getting upended so quickly has probably put that off.
dmsilev
Just a bit of schadenfreude and hilarity. Elon Musk apparently cheats at video games, and does so in such a blatantly stupid way that even the Washington Post is writing it up:
Elon Musk rose to the top of video game charts. Now he has confessed to cheating.
Ohio Mom
@Quinerly: I’m a little impressed Trumpers know either song. Either that or they are serious googlers.
hueyplong
@Ohio Mom: They went on some music lyrics site and typed in “Gulf of Mexico.”
Baud
“With Trump Hotel Gitmo, a President returns to his roots.” /NYT
Melancholy Jaques
@Steve LaBonne:
Many people “know” about things that do not exist. They’ve done their research, they get their news from “reliable” sources.
Quinerly
@Ohio Mom:
Nothing surprises me. There are Trumper John Prine fans who insist Prine was a Trumper. And don’t get me started about the Trumper Buffett fans.
These are the same folks who saw no irony in Trump wanting “Fortunate Son” played at rallies.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@UncleEbeneezer:
What company? I’m guessing you wouldn’t take a cotton too all my edrum gear. 16 years of writing for an online magazine dedicated to electronic drums means I have a lot of stuff. Mostly lower end–anytime I’ve gotten a super expensive kit to review, they make me send it back. :)
Congrats on hitting the ground running.
Jackie
@WaterGirl:
I’m sincerely hoping this is more bluster BS and the FFOTUS will walk it back as he’s been forced to do with all the other BS threats he’s been spouting.
Ohio Mom
@hueyplong: I wouldn’t mess with Dylan, he has quite the mean streak and lawyers he knows how to use. And does anyone cover Cripple Creek anymore? Well, having these MAGAs chase such inane goals keeps them out of trouble.
Peale
Maybe its a show about that kind of 1%?
Wish you luck with your call, though.
Jeffro
In 2 minutes, I can brainstorm 10 different ways that these MAGA goons could have done a better job at achieving their goals. I guess they didn’t have 2 minutes to spare, though.
“If they were smart, they wouldn’t be criminals”
Jackie
@UncleEbeneezer: So much wonderful news after such an awful tragedy. Thanks for updating us! It sounds like you’re in a great place to start over.
Baud
@Steve in the ATl:
They know you’re well traveled.
Do it!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Steve in the ATl:
https://www.fox.com/the-1-club/
That’s it I assume.
Old School
@Steve in the ATl:
Did you try out for the show? Or are they just cold-calling people?
(It’s a game show for people who don’t know.)
Jeffro
It probably could be noted by every Dem within range of a camera or microphone that it’s quite amazing to see how eager this maladministration is to hurt American citizens.
“It’s almost like it’s their top priority, wouldn’t you say? Not lowering the price of anything, or making America stronger in any way – just hurting Americans.”
Kayla Rudbek
@dmsilev: false in one thing, false in all things, as my ancient Roman ancestors said
Steve in the ATl
@Old School: @comrade scotts agenda of rage:@Baud: @Peale: I need clarification—is it about the top 1% or the bottom 1%?
Trollhattan
@Quinerly:
TBH There’s a Hole in Daddy’s Arm Where the Money Goes somehow fits Donny and his klan, not that I’m looking at all at Junior or anything.
Baud
@Steve in the ATl:
Either one works for you!
Quinerly
@hueyplong:
For what it is worth, the arguments are taking place in Dylan and The Band groups.
I feel like I can’t escape Trump….the Raw milk/RFKJR crowd have invaded foodie groups, the Gulf of America/McKinley crowd have invaded music and travel groups, the pro Trump Navajos have invaded the NA and public lands groups. I like trains….my train groups are fearful for Amtrak. Oddly, there appear to be no loud and proud train loving Trumpers.
Not bots…for the most part….legit folks. They have been empowered.
And, I am in shock how much Trump is beloved by some in the Navajo communities. President of Navajo Nation is on record talking about how Trump will usher in a “golden age.” (Yes, I am repeating myself…mentioned this a few days ago.) I have picked back up my old habit from Covid Times and am back to reading The Navajo Times regularly. Fawning piece the other day high lighting 2-3 overtly religious Navajo women who love them some Trump.
Old School
@Steve in the ATl: As I recall, they ask progressively harder
triviageneral knowledge questions. 50% of people polled answered correctly, 40% of people polled answered correctly, etc. The final question was missed by 99%.lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
I’m not sure it can even be called a buyout. They’ll be on the payroll between now and 9/30, they may still have to work, but they’ll still get to work from home. They won’t get any $$ besides their regular paychecks.
Can’t see why anyone would accept this bizarre deal unless they were planning to retire this year anyway.
Jackie
Heh
Why would the Pentagon need to be informed? //
Lily
They didn’t ask RK if he supports Tp’s promise to execute drug dealers. (RK was a dealer.) Did they even ask him about the HHS Privacy Act to see if he knows what it is?
bjacques
@Peale: Can God fill teeth?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l3bDYhOYPDg&pp=ygUSQ2FuIGdvZCBmaWxsIHRlZXRo
Quinerly
@Ohio Mom:
Dylan has announced his new tour. Lots of smaller towns/cities. He’s in Tulsa in March. (But, that is where The Bob Dylan Center is)
Quinerly
@Trollhattan:
Chuckle emoji.
Seanly
Trump, his cronies & the people using his pliability for their own conservative ends are still just as incompetent and stupid as they were previously. So maybe they won’t get as much done as they’d like but there is still going to be a lot of pain and stupid decisions and hate getting institutionized in the meantime. And there will be a lot of the bad decisions and policy that get locked in.
Man, I really really hate these people.
Quinerly
@Ohio Mom:
Cripple Creek is still a staple for some bar bands. Just heard it a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon.
catclub
On the other hand, ‘Guantanamo Bay Naval base’
was probably pretty big. So depends what we mean by ‘the place’
catclub
@Quinerly: Does it have to be changed to ‘Differently abled Creek?
Lily
@Quinerly: Wonder if they’ll allow a change to the patriot sacred gun lyrics of Battle of New Orleans
lowtechcyclist
@Steve LaBonne:
Things lots of people know about that don’t actually exist:
Witches, wizards, warlocks, vampires, the Loch Ness Monster, the Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot…
Jacqueline Squid Onassis
@@mistermix.bsky.social: Oh my gosh, but do I love Dressy Bessy and especially the “Pink Hearts, Yellow Moons” album.
It’s always a nice surprise when someone mentions a band that I thought only I knew about.
Trollhattan
@Seanly:
Sec of Ed going to be that rasslin’ woman but an undersecretary from hereabouts is very effective, a yuge charter school advocate, and she’ll be doing the dirty work.
Having seen nothing about Interior Secretary nom, some items on ND Gov Don Burgum:
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffro:
Truth. I’ve only done one stint on a grand jury, and that was ~25 years ago, but my big takeaway from the experience was how unbelievably dumb your typical criminal is.
Jackie
Eric Adams might not need a FFOTUS pardon after all.
Is Adams planning to run for NYC mayor again? And, if so… as a DINO or Will he rejoin the GQP?
catclub
@rikyrah: I am confident they will use this to fire (for cause) anyone who accepts it.
The ‘for cause’ is that you believed them when they said it will not affect your workload.
Also the bit about ‘you have 1 week to decide’ is high pressure sales.
rikyrah
@Steve in the ATl:
Go for it!
lowtechcyclist
@Old School:
My FIL watches a lot of game shows, so we watch some of them with him when we’re visiting him. I’ve seen this one. It’s a pretty good game show for a smart person to be on. Good luck!
rikyrah
@UncleEbeneezer:
Thank you for checking in with us. Glad that things are going well.
Quinerly
@Lily: good question.
rikyrah
@Jackie:
Lips so pursed.
UH HUH
UH HUH
@mistermix.bsky.social
@Jacqueline Squid Onassis: Mon Cheri is a great song from Faster Faster Disaster.
Also, first cut “It’s Not That Hard” — my messaging motto.
Central Planning
@Steve in the ATl: That’s nothing. I got nominated again (3rd time!) for being a Lawyer of Distinction!
Narrator: Central Planning has never received any legal training, nor is recognized by any body as a lawyer
ETA – Are you sure they want you on as a 1%er? Maybe they want your charming persona as a cabana boy
ETA 2 – TIL it’s a trivia/general knowledge show, not a show about the stupidly wealthy 1%.
Quinerly
I don’t have time to study this site right now. Bookmarked it. Looks to be a good site that is tracking all legal challenges to what Trump is doing.
https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-legal-challenges-trump-administration-actions/
lowtechcyclist
@catclub:
I’m missing something here. How can management fire workers, for cause, for believing what management told them?
Trollhattan
A thing we can all agree is wrong in every way a thing can be wrong.
Not one positive takeaway here. None.
Steve LaBonne
@UncleEbeneezer: Excellent news. Enjoy your new community.
Old School
Don’t know how many people it is designed for though.
RSA
Nah, it must be your devastating good looks.
Steve LaBonne
@Trollhattan:
"Bribe" is such an ugly word.
Trollhattan
@Old School:
If Donny ever finds out about this, he’ll force the Navy to tear them down. “The sailors, the sailors will all get cancer!”
LAC
sharing this from our federal union:
We have reviewed yesterday’s “Fork in the Road” email more closely.
We continue to strongly urge you not to take this alleged “deal.” It is not good for you or for the American people.
Don’t be threatened or coerced into resigning from your job. The American people count on you as a member of the non-partisan civil service to deliver for them. The country needs you now more than ever.
Here’s what we know:
Regardless of what OPM or your agency say, there is no guarantee what they will do or that it can be enforced if you resign, especially given the uncertainty above.
We stand firm with you and will take all appropriate action to protect your rights. We will share additional information with you as it becomes available.
Harrison Wesley
@lowtechcyclist: Animal House rules.
lowtechcyclist
@UncleEbeneezer:
Glad to hear things are falling in place for you in Taos! But yeah, when you get time to breathe, take it. Let it be someone else’s turn to do all that organizing and whatnot in this cycle.
Even if you hadn’t lost everything to the fire and were having to replace it all from scratch, you’d probably still need to step back and let someone else be the activist/organizer. But given what you’ve been through and are still going through, life owes you a break when you finally are at a place where you can take one.
lowtechcyclist
@Harrison Wesley: Ah yes. (I thought he was being serious.)
rikyrah
They started the raids in Blue States, because they wanted to ‘punish’ Blue States, and make an example out of them.
Then, they are mad because said Blue States are teaching folks about their RIGHTS, and so, they can’t get the visuals that they want. School systems saying – no, you will not come in here and snatch up CHILDREN.
They could have gotten their visuals, if they had gone to Red States. They would have been only too happy to give him the visuals… but, then, he would be hurting all those Red State Employers by taking away their workers.
Geminid
@SiubhanDuinne: I bet that will get Henry Cuellar’s attentoin. From what I know of the charges against Rep. Cuellar, they basically track those against Menendez, except in Cuellar’s case it was Azerbaijan and not Egypt paying the bribes.
If Cuellar takes a plea deal or is convicted in a trial, that will set up a very important special election. Republicans will go all out to take his Laredo-based seat. They’ve made substantial inroads in the Rio Grande Valley and they’ll try to continue that momentum.
Trollhattan
Bless Digby, who has a roundup of the RFK Jr hearings. Batshit crazy doesn’t begin to capture….
https://digbysblog.net/2025/01/29/trumps-greatest-insult/
What’s that expression about clear and present danger?
Steve LaBonne
@rikyrah: Same way they could have just kept their mouths shut after the freeze memo was rescinded, but Trump can’t tolerate being seen to back down so he had to send his press secretary out to basically tell the judges in so many words that they were lying. It’s been a pretty amazing day.
UncleEbeneezer
@tam1MI: Thanks., We both found NM therapists that we can meet virtually. I’ll have a session tomorrow. I know I will definitely need it for PTSD.
Seonachan
@Quinerly: I’m seeing Trumpers on a Phil Ochs forum claiming he’d be a Trumper today. Phil Ochs!
Geminid
@Jackie: I don’t think it matters what party line Eric Adams runs on. An Emerson poll taken last May, before Adams was indicted, showed 30% job approval compared to 60% disapproval. I don’t think he can turn that around.
Captain C
@Peale: Was that 1% RFK, jr. disguised as a dentist?
Baud
@rikyrah:
That’s it In a nutshell.
Captain C
@Jackie: Either way, he’s likely getting smoked. Most of the city absolutely hates him right now.
Harrison Wesley
@Seonachan: What’s next? They want Dixie as the national anthem?
Quinerly
@Seonachan:
Cray cray
Sister Golden Bear
@UncleEbeneezer: Great to hear you’re landing on your feet. May you settle in soon with your new home.
Manyakitty
@UncleEbeneezer: fantastic news! Rebuilding your lives is a great distraction from the madness.
UncleEbeneezer
@lowtechcyclist: Thanks. Giving ourselves permission to take a break is hard for both of us. I’ll definitely talk with my therapist about that. But it just started snowing here and it’s really lovely. Looking forward to eventually skiing a bit and just enjoying having actual seasons again. We also have a pretty cool little park right by where we live that we explored the other day and that was nice.
Manyakitty
@WaterGirl: concentration camps
Quinerly
Meta settles with Trump for shutting down his FB acct after 1/6. Agrees to pay Trump $25 million.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/29/business/trump-meta-settlement/index.html
Geminid
@Quinerly: I ran into the Just Security site when Cheryl Rofer linked to it a couple years ago.
I think Laura Rozen is on Just Security’s editorial board. Rozen is someone else I found through Ms. Rofer. Laura Rozen is a good aggregator of diplomatic reporting and writes her own pieces on a Substack account. I have yet to get a bum steer from Cheryl Rofer.
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATl: Wow, that’s…. scary? What did you say?
Also, can you change your lower case L to upper case, like it used to be? Otherwise you look like ATI not ATL.
Or you could change it to WTF if you prefer. :-)
Manyakitty
@Steve in the ATl: seems like there’s more to this story.
Redshift
@Trollhattan:
A friend posted yesterday that the maintenance people at her condo complex were spending all day using leaf blowers to try to clear the salt left over from the recent snow. :facepalm
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATl: hahaha
UncleEbeneezer
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Eames Drum Company. Got the kit in college and it was my go-to gigging and recording kit for pretty much every band I’ve played (drums) in. I am also gonna replace my cheap-o Roland V-drum kit which allows me to practice at home.
Quinerly
@Geminid:
And you won’t ever get a bum steer from Cheryl. Cool and brilliant gal. Have had a few lunches with her over the years. She actually came to my first party here during my first summer after my move.
Manyakitty
@Quinerly: how do they feel about their fellow Navajos getting swept up for deportation? Is that super happy fun for them? JFC. Idiots.
WaterGirl
@Manyakitty: You are probably correct. Digusting.
Redshift
@suzanne:
I was worried they’d be more effective because as opposed to last time when nobody wanted to work for him, they had all these loyalists lined up. But until they started, I forgot the loyalists were Heritage Foundation types who’ve spent their entire careers at a place where their only job requirement was supporting the party line, not being competent or effective at anything except preaching to the choir.
They can still do a lot of damage, especially because not doing their jobs and interfering with competent civil servants doesn’t require much skill, but I’m less worried than I used to be about them making long term changes.
Quinerly
@Manyakitty:
The sweeps are what made me dive into the forums, community sites, and private FB groups.
The true Trump fans seem to think any stories about NA Americans being detained are hoaxes. Or the old….”well, if they weren’t doing anything wrong, nothing to worry about.” Of course, the loudest and the most obnoxious are Trumpers of any color and background. I am seeing a lot of comments by folks (mostly men, not bots) that if the “illegals” (Mexicans) are rounded up then more jobs for NAs. Accusing Dems of having a slave mentality and wanting Mexicans to work for less pay. If no Mexicans, then employers will have to pay more and will hire NAs.
Here’s an interesting article about some NA women who went to Trump’s inauguration.
https://www.nhonews.com/news/make-indian-country-great-again-indigenous-people-flock-to-washington-d-c-to-celebrate-the/article_5e42e612-d784-11ef-995b-af04413c7e0f.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawIHlAFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHUf44vnkODAUSxByiJEYBZIVsKVv0Cyw55zJ5QW27bquokTteQy_h4PrNw_aem_dbIUTN4YioXPqxLO0bMSMA
Manyakitty
@Seonachan: between “The Party” and “Love Me, I’m a Liberal,” I don’t know where he’d end up, but trumper is not on the list.
Jeffro
@Trollhattan: you’re right – he probably would
the RWNJs are so thoroughly, reflexively anti-green energy that it does kind of take one’s breath away (on multiple levels)
one level, for example: “do you not SEE, with the evidence of your own eyes, that climate change is happening and happening much faster than anyone predicted?”
another level: “don’t you have kids and grandkids? Have you broken the news to them yet that this coming summer will likely be the COOLEST one in their lifetimes?”
finally: “no other industry has even come close to successfully propagandizing half the world against the other half, to the detriment of both, bar none”
Manyakitty
@WaterGirl: there’s something sketchy happening in Aurora, Colorado, too, with the Space Force setting up camps but I haven’t seen anything more about since yesterday.
Matt McIrvin
@Seonachan: Conservatives have been interpreting “Love Me, I’m A Liberal” as a right-wing song for decades, because it’s anti-liberals.
Baud
Manyakitty
@Quinerly: I don’t even know what to say. Just…wow.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
One of their more sensible positions.
Also, that song came out in 1966. People should let it go.
Steve in the ATL
@WaterGirl: once again, sans serif fonts are ruining the world!
Peke Daddy
@sixthdoctor: Now Trump may pull an Andrew Jackson/Native American resettlement refusal to get it to SCOTUS.
Starfish (she/her)
@Steve in the ATL: You know, there are some contentious takes on this blog, but you are going to Helvetica for that one.
Starfish (she/her)
Meta just offered to build the Trump presidential library that will presumably just contain empty ketchup packets since they were doing all sorts of stupid things with his presidential records.
Jackie
Jesus.
Quinerly
@Manyakitty:
Here’s another piece.
https://navajotimes.com/reznews/navajo-trump-supporters-share-their-reasons-for-supporting-the-47th-us-president/
And this:
“Former Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer spoke on Tuesday about key issues facing the Navajo Nation and Indian Country, as well as his possible appointment as assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior.Lizer provided insights into his vision for economic development, health care improvements, and tribal advocacy considering political changes in Washington, D.C. He said he expects to learn within the next week or two whether he will secure the federal position.”
https://navajotimes.com/reznews/former-vice-president-reflects-on-trumps-return-to-office/
Anonymous at Work
This episode very much felt like Little Lord Fauntleroy Trump demanding a second scope of ice cream just for him before the first one was served or a bowl was even on the table. Too many things were not ready to address the chaos of the “etc.” for it to last beyond first contact with reality.
They’ll be back,c with a better list of what pauses and what doesn’t. I think Meals on Wheels was a bad look for them. Musk and Vought will figure out what hurts which side more and draw lines based on that.
And remember, they want this fight. This is about bringing monarchy back to the U.S.A.
Quinerly
@Quinerly:
And this before the election:
“About 61 percent of Native Americans said President Biden and the Democratic party do not care about issues important to Native peoples, or they are outright hostile to Native communities, according to a 2022 Midterm Voter Election Poll by the African American Research Collaborative. Seventy percent of Natives said the same about the Republican party. Sixty percent of Native Americans reported voting for Joe Biden in 2020, according to the Latino Decisions Election Eve Survey.Lizer, Navajo and Comanche, told ICT he and other conservative Natives are working to get Trump elected a second time. ‘We’re doing everything,’ he said. ‘We’re walking the streets, knocking on doors, we’re putting up signs, and we’re just doing the work here in Indian country.'”
https://ictnews.org/politics/nativevote24-native-americans-for-trump
cain
@Quinerly:
That’s not how this works.
From the wikipedia entry on the Chinese Exclusion Act:
Getting rid of cheap labor doesn’t automatically mean more jobs. It just means that the margins are so thin that the businesses just close instead.
Same thing when it came to the great depression. Just a lot of shooting yourself in the foot.
cain
@Jeffro:
lol – they didn’t even like LED! They wanted to keep incandescent light bulbs! The same people would have probably killed the automobile so that they can keep horses.
Renie
My daughter worked in Senator Gillibrand’s office during a college semester and they do keep tallies of calls, track them by subject matter and whether its a for or against the matter. Under normal times, Gillibrand was made aware of the results once a week. In times like now, when there is a lot of controversial matters going and a lot of calls, she was told daily. Calls do help.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@UncleEbeneezer:
Very nice.
The magazine I write for is digitalDrummer. Lotta gear reviews in there from the intro-to-mid level (mostly what I do) to high end stuff.
Feel free to reach out on the drum side although you’re a pro drummer, I’m just some shambolic amateur who’s been doing edrums for 20 years now.
cain
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Speaking of drumming.. I really miss Neal Peart. :/ I wonder what kind of stuff he would have come up with in these times.
Miss Bianca
@Quinerly: This…I cannot believe.
Manyakitty
@Quinerly: was Deb Haaland invisible to them? I like going to the Powwow in a state park a few hours away and I’m always shocked by the Confederate flags. One dancer made a whole costume of them. Creepy. And who am I to say anything to them? Again, tis a mystery.
Manyakitty
@Quinerly: that’s just disheartening on so many levels.
UncleEbeneezer
@Baud: FA-meet-FO
jimmiraybob
There will be more space if our military takes out Cuba and makes it a new state.
Redshift
@Quinerly:
Trump told them that would happen, so it must be true! (don’t know if he said NA specifically, but I bet someone on the campaign did.) You’d like to think when it doesn’t it would be a wakeup call, but they will undoubtedly be given another scapegoat to blame instead.
UncleEbeneezer
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: “Pro” usually means getting paid. I haven’t really gotten paid to play in several years (mostly because my tennis instruction schedule rarely gelled with playing gigs). One nice thing about Taos is that there will be a significant off-season for tennis where I can play (music) more.
waspuppet
Good thing the Trump administration comes from the world of business where everything is totally meritocratic and efficient and nobody makes any mistakes ever.
Betty Cracker
@UncleEbeneezer: Dude. Maybe that shouldn’t be your first reaction?
Miss Bianca
@Baud: Another day, another Constitutional violation. Is this year over yet?
sixthdoctor
@cain: Seems like a lot of Snakes and Arrows (“Armor and Sword”, “Way the Wind Blows”) is still relevant despite it coming out in 2007.
jonas
@Jackie: WTF? There is no fucking way you can stuff 30,000 people into Guantanamo Bay NS. We’ve officially reached max assclown. But of course, as we all know, there is — somehow — no bottom with these people. The dregs are just the beginning…
Quinerly
@Miss Bianca:
I honestly had no clue about any of this until a week ago. The NAs I know were Harris supporters or just not going to vote. (I know, I know…But, I am not getting in an argument about not voting out here with NAs….just not)
Did not know the Pres of Navajo Nation is now a Trumper. His Wiki said he endorsed Harris. If you go by Navajo Harris supporters on line, the consensus is he has always been in the Trump camp. He and wife were invited to the inauguration and they are all smiles in the pictures.
He is their youngest president. His mother is Navajo and gave birth to him at age 15. His father was Vietnamese. He never knew his father and his mother spelled the last name wrong for the birth certificate. Should have been “Nguyen”
And
From Wiki:
“In August 2024, a petition was launched to recall Nygren from office. The recall organizers accused Nygren of reneging and inaction on his campaign promises, misusing tribal funds, and creating a culture of workplace harassment.”
And
“On April 16, 2024, Nygren was accused by Navajo Nation Vice President Richelle Montoya, his 2022 running mate, of sexually harassing her during a meeting in August 2023. The President’s office has previously been accused of fostering a culture of sexual abuse and violence towards women staffersrs. This followed a separate accusation a month earlier in which a former male staffer accused Montoya of sexual harassment in January 2023.”
Wikipedia
Chris Johnson
@Manyakitty: Sadly, he might have ended up a tankie… and pro-Trump simply because so is Russia.
Roger Waters ended up a tankie. It’s a shame.
Chris Johnson
@jonas: cough blender cough…
Jeffro
@Starfish (she/her): I’d say it will contain nothing but comic books, but that’s an insult to comic books.
Citizen Alan
This is news to you? I remember being dumbstruck back during Obama’s first term when the GOP response to efforts to increase light bulb efficiency was to encourage people to protest the move by leaving all their lights on all day when they left the house. To literally waste electricity for no purpose whatsoever except to feel like their owning liberals. Not even really owning liberals because who the fuck cares when some GOP dipshit is intentionally running up $300 electricity bills every month but still!
Harrison Wesley
@jimmiraybob: And we can dig a canal there! Take that, Panama!
Quinerly
Hmmmm.
Fetterman: “I don’t think it went well for him today. I don’t think that was a good one,” he said after Kennedy sparred with Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee over his past statements and stance on vaccines.
Fetterman said after the bruising hearing that he thinks Kennedy’s nomination may be “moot.”
“It’s moot,” he said when asked if he’s still open to voting for Kennedy. “I’m not really sure how much support’s going to emerge after that.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat noted that he’s met with Kennedy twice already.
“I think we can all agree that was really a difficult performance,” he said. “I’m not sure he’ll even make it out of the committee.”
The Hill reporting
Steve LaBonne
@Citizen Alan: You can go back even farther, to Reagan removing the solar panels Carter had installed on the White House roof.
Jeffro
@cain: it’s genuinely weird!
IT’S NOT JUST OUR RIGHT BUT OUR DUTY TO USE AS MUCH ENERGY AS POSSIBLE!! AND ALL OF IT MUST BE FROM THIS ONE DIRTY SOURCE, TOO!!1! NO CHANGES OR BACKSIES – ALL CARBON, ALL THE TIME, FROM NOW UNTIL THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE!
what a bunch of freaks
Baud
Via Reddit
sab
Is Karoline Leavitt an unprepared liar, an idiot, or (my guess) both?
Quinerly
@Jeffro:
We could talk about low flush toilets and those shower heads that Trump rants about.
Jeffro
@Baud: they’re such psychos about protestors of any kind…it’s full-on authoritarian daddy shit
If they had half a brain, they’d just ignore protests (or keep finding ways to kneecap them, like salting the protests with agitators and then using the inevitable footage to propagandize their own cult followers via Fox) and keep doing whatever they want to do.
NO PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF DEFIANCE WILL BE TOLERATED!!
(UNLESS IT IS OUR PEOPLE DESECRATING THE U.S. CAPITOL AND BEATING ON COPS ALL AFTERNOON, OF COURSE!! THAT ROCKS!)
it’s the clearest example of ‘rules for thee, but not for me’ among so very many with the RWNJs
sab
@Trollhattan: Carriers that can hold 30,000? I am impressed, or skeptical.
Jeffro
no, but I do retain an almost childlike ability to continue to be astonished by fools and self-sabotaging weirdos
Frank Wilhoit
Douglas Hofstadter had a test sentence for the early instars of “AI”. He would tell them, “I like to understand up without seventeen clams” and see what they made of it. Trump’s “executive orders” (no more scare quotes, else they would be everywhere) and memos are at the level of the seventeen clams — and therefore, so are the interpretations of them. The point is to make us wonder whether eighteen clams might be better: and that is mostly what we are doing, and it is a category error. The pitfall was the notion of “lies”. Lies have enough substance to be determinable as false. It has never been lies. It has always been stories. Stories are neither true nor false. Over time, the stories have become more overtly surrealistic, but to the listening ear, they never made any sense. Name a trope, from the whole corpus of conservatism: there they are, all seventeen of them, tuppence the pound and none too fresh.
1. Blame the audience.
2. Stop saying the stories are false. It is like bouncing ping-pong balls off a whale. Say they are vile, and say why. Appeal to shared moral standards where they exist, and where (mostly) they don’t, say “this, is, the, moral standard”. That is what they do, and it works.
Jeffro
@sab: well, she’s MAGA, so we know she didn’t bother preparing/doing any work, right? Not even for a minute.
“I’m just going to go out there and…and…wing it! Just like the boss!” she said, grinning ear to ear.
(barf)
sab
@tam1MI: I tried that this year. Works pretty well with powdery snow. Husband thinks we are too old to be shovelling, but I am not having the mail carrier on a snowy sidewalk on our property, plus our driveway is a steep hiil down to a busy street.
Quinerly
@sab:
Well, if you like gossip…I got caught up on her today. It’s snowing, and I again mainlined politics.
Her husband was homeless at one time. Now a “real estate magnate.” He’s 60. She’s 27.
I really love the piece KOS has up. TRUMP’S PRESS SECRETARY IS THE CORRUPT MONSTER HE’S ALWAYS WANTED
“A recent investigation from NOTUS shows that about a week ago, Leavitt ‘amended’ campaign filings from her failed 2022 congressional run. It reportedly shows that she failed to disclose, for years, at least $200,000 in ‘inappropriate donations.’ It also shows that she still owes more than $300,000 in unpaid debts.”
Much more at the link
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/28/2299725/-Trump-s-press-secretary-is-the-corrupt-monster-he-s-always-wanted
Harrison Wesley
@Quinerly: I think I’m in love.
Quinerly
@Harrison Wesley:
And we know she’s fertile. She just popped out a baby and was immediately back at work!
Quinerly
Anybody talking about RFKJR’s VP pick threatening ANYONE who votes against Bobby?
The video is kinda spooky
“Please know I will be watching your votes very closely,” she told the lawmakers. “I will make it my personal mission that you lose your seats in the Senate if you vote against the future health of America’s children.”
And
“Bobby may play nice, I won’t
https://www.yahoo.com/news/rfk-jr-vp-pick-vows-041008249.html
sab
@suzanne: The only thing Trump remembers is grudges to be held. In almost eighty years he doesn’t seem to have learned much else.
Sister Golden Bear
And now a fourth anti-EO tonight,, this time targeting teachers. It orders the feds to work with state AGs to put teachers who use trans kids’ pronouns in jail through “sexual exploitation” laws or “practicing medicine without a license.”
It’s pretty obviously illegal in multiple ways and intended to terrify teachers and schools into submission, but I expect multiple Red states to try prosecuting teachers.
We need be talking about what Trump is trying to do to trans people in the context of the Nuremberg laws, since it’s a clear attempt to drive trans people out of existence by denying us the ability to get an education, work, travel, receive medical care, and flat out exist in public.
Quinerly
@Sister Golden Bear:
OMG.
Thanks for your comments. I rarely comment back. Mostly because it’s all so horrible…I just don’t know what to say. My communication skills are better one on one, in person. Just not good here on line.
I read your comments but by the time I can put down my thoughts in writing, the thread is dead.
Just know I am thinking about you. I care. I am horrified.
Betty Cracker
@Sister Golden Bear: Jesus.
Ksmiami
@UncleEbeneezer: I think I saw you at Baca or Sunset park. We live in Taos too.
sab
@LAC: Thank you. That is very interesting. I like the e-mails not in the chain of command point.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I went out to lunch with a friend and then we went to see “A Complete Unknown” this afternoon. When I got home, I found the front pagers and commenters had been very busy. I’ll never catch up.
Someone take mercy on me and tell me if RFK looks likely to be confirmed.
Betty Cracker
@Quinerly: An oligarch threatening to crush democracy under the weight of her gold. Fuck her.
Steve LaBonne
@Sister Golden Bear: Fucking motherfuckers. And Ohio is the kind of state that will probably try and run with that. We need to have a discussion in my church about what we might be able to do about it. (Our board president happens to be a young female-presenting nonbinary person who uses they-them pronouns and is married to a woman. This is an attack on all of us.)
Shalimar
@Betty Cracker: It shouldn’t be, but it was mine too. So many of them couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Biden out of a place of what they thought was privilege. It didn’t affect them personally. Trump is showing them that they were wrong.
Sister Golden Bear
@Quinerly: Thank you for commenting, even if it’s to say you don’t know what to say.
Sometimes I feel I’m screaming into the void.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: it’s almost like there is a unifying theme (a rallying cry, if you will) for 2026, 2028, and beyond just lying there, waiting. to. be. picked. up.
rhymes with “fut the buck up, shillionaires”
(whaddya say, Dems? looks like it would even fit on a bumper sticker 💙🇺🇸 )
sixthdoctor
@Sister Golden Bear: I’m sorry. It’s repulsive.
I just saw one of my senators (Chris Van Hollen) is soliciting stories about how the Trump executive orders are affecting people. This may be an opportunity for people to press him to speak publicly on these anti-trans EOs.
https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/share-how-president-trumps-executive-orders-are-impacting-you-or-your-family
Starfish (she/her)
@Citizen Alan: Remember when he told them to make sure to properly inflate their tires, and they lost it?
Now the little light comes on in my car if the tires are not properly inflated. THANKS OBAMA.
lowtechcyclist
@Sister Golden Bear:
Wow, common courtesy in addressing people the way they want to be called is now ‘sexual exploitation’ or ‘practicing medicine without a license.’
Yeah, the point is to intimidate teachers, and if enough of it goes on, it’ll drive even more of them out of the profession. Like we have such a surplus of K-12 teachers now that we as a nation can afford to do that. Just swell.
I presume an outfit like Lambda Legal would be taking on some of these cases. I should make a contribution.
sab
@Sister Golden Bear: Ohio’s AG, running for governor, will probably go along with this. He has already contacted Costco (a Washington State based outfit) about problems with their DEI ( the have a program for it.)
Why the fuck would an Ohio AG even think that was any of his/our government’s business now that he/we don’t care about discrimination.
This is beginning to feel very Klannish. I grew in the Jim Crow South where there was the law and then there were the actual rules.
lowtechcyclist
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Since this is an open thread, how was it?
Quinerly
@Sister Golden Bear:
Well, I’m here. Feel free to get my email from Betty Cracker. And, if you are ever my way in New Mexico, I have a room for you. For sure.
Hugs.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@Sister Golden Bear: Aa a teacher this makes my blood boil. JFC.
Dan B
@Sister Golden Bear: Hugs.
We’ve got an extended Mexican family next door whose English is poor. My partner is desperate to do something for them. I’ve told him several times to get contact information about support groups to them in Spanish. He wants to sneak them into our / my house. I feel that would put them clearly into evading the law.
And there’s LGBTQ+ people. Trans are the new pedophiles but some people will recall that gsy men were accused of being pedophiles back in the 50’s and 60’s.
Old School
Tee hee. Conservatives are so naughty.
Tim C.
@Sister Golden Bear: Kinda want to scream with you. I have trans kids in many of my classes. I’m not too concerned within my personal sphere of influence as I’m in a blue state. But the potential for violence is elevating quickly. It’s just full on Nazi-level hate at this point.
The thing I’ve been reminding myself is that I had a grandfather who was a paratrooper on D-day. Another Grandfather served on an aircraft carrier in the Navy where he met my grandmother who was serving as a gunnery instructor as a WAVE. They all served for the same reason. To fight Nazis.
I don’t think any kind of open violence is useful at this point, but just the same. Using peaceful and nonviolent methods… It’s time to what they did.
Fight Nazis
UncleEbeneezer
@Ksmiami: Seriously? Crazy. We really dug Baca Park. We can basically walk there from our (now snow covered) trailer.
Quinerly
@lowtechcyclist:
I thought he did terribly. Fingers crossed that Cassidy from LA votes no. There are some links in this thread about it. Digby had a synopsis with video.
I posted Fetterman’s thoughts up thread.
What struck me is Kennedy has no idea about the ACA and doesn’t seem to understand the difference in Medicare and Medicaid. He also got caught in several lies.
Chief Oshkosh
@Sister Golden Bear: This is awful. I have never understood why anyone cares what another person is or does with regards to their sex, sexuality, gender identification (sorry if I don’t use the right words). I just don’t understand why the bigots and haters even think about it. It just doesn’t affect them. But they’ve allowed someone to convince them that it does affect them. I wish I knew what to say. Or what to do. Other than (yet again) call my Senators and Congresswoman (all three of whom are bluest of blue and big supporters of the LGBTQ communities).
Sister Golden Bear
@lowtechcyclist: I’m sure the lawsuits will be coming shortly.
Speaking of which, I’m proud to say that one of my acquaintances is one eight plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the trans military ban just filed by GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of six transgender service members and two trans people seeking to enlist.
@Quinerly: Thank you!
WaterGirl
@Manyakitty: Oh, ugh. sigh.
frosty
@Quinerly: Fetterman must have gotten the message I left this morning!
WaterGirl
@Baud: That makes me feel physically ill.
Miss Bianca
@lowtechcyclist: I liked it. Saw it twice, in fact. It’s got a lot of the standard music bio-pic tropes, but the acting is great, and the scene design is awesome.
Plus, it got me actually *listening* to some Dylan albums! Never been a huge fan, really, but I’m finally learning to appreciate his catalog. Only taken me almost 50 years…
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: No argument from me!
sab
I have been trying to call Husted’s mail box today. Of course it is full. DeWine and Portman at least took meassages and occassionally returned them if the message was polite. I am not impressed with Jon Boy so far.
Chief Oshkosh
@Quinerly: Good. Junior is such a godammned freak.
different-church-lady
Meanwhile he’s actually going to build the camps. In other words, full Nazi.
Sister Golden Bear
@Dan B:
It’s the same exact playbook the haters used from the 60s through Anita Bryant and the Briggs Initiative in CA in the 70s through until recently.
As far as your neighbors…. that’s a delicate situation, I wish you and your partner the best in figuring out how best to help without risking making things worse.
different-church-lady
@Jeffro: Hey, hey, hey.all caps is my gig.
Miss Bianca
@Chief Oshkosh: I’m with you. WTF does it *matter*? I think “mind your own fucking business” needs to be amplified as a resistance mode.
@Sister Golden Bear: I’m sorry. Many of our fellow citizens are simply beasts.
Matt McIrvin
@Dan B: The play is always to accuse anyone who doesn’t fit into standard conservative gender or sexual boxes of being a pedophile, and any material expressing tolerance as pornographic.
Quinerly
@frosty:
Heart emoji!
TONYG
Is Trump an effective fascist like Hitler, or a fascist fuck-up like Mussolini? I”m hoping for the latter, it’s been only nine days so far.
Quinerly
Paging Kay!
Interesting piece on Greenland. I had somehow missed Trump’s appointment for Ambassador to Denmark is Thiel’s partner. Peter Thiel, et al want Greenland.
https://www.levernews.com/trumps-tech-donors-have-big-plans-for_greenland/
TONYG
@Quinerly: Peter Thiel wants to drink the blood of teenage Greenlanders. With some fave beans and nice Chianti.
WaterGirl
@different-church-lady: Now, now, I’m sure there are enough CAPS to go around for everybody. :-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lowtechcyclist: We both really liked it. I loved the music. It fits my generation. :-)
And he knew everyone. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez (I didn’t realize they were a thing)
Sister Golden Bear
@Matt McIrvin: That’s literally the play that Project 2025 is planning. Have an EO and/or pass laws defining anything having to with LGBTQ topics (and people) to be inherently pornographic and then ban all porn. Convenient how it’ll make our very existing illegal.
Miss Bianca
@different-church-lady: OFF MY CORNER, HO!
tobie
This post and video are frightening. Men in military gear (ICE) approach a woman and detain her in handcuffs and take her car. Their uniforms aren’t marked. Their cars don’t have license plates or any identifying marks. How do we know they’re not vigilantes? Police have to identify themselves. ICE agents don’t???
https://mastodon.social/@benroyce/113913175453217103
zhena gogolia
@Sister Golden Bear: It’s sickening.
zhena gogolia
@TONYG: I keep clinging to the fact that he’s a lot older than Hitler was when he got started.
But I am so shocked at the capitulation of the media, entertainment (SNL, vomit), and many, way too many, of my fellow citizens.
Jeffro
@Starfish (she/her): IF WE DO THAT VERY EASY THING, OUR CARS WILL BURN LESS OF THE HOLY PETROLEUM!!! WHY WOULD WE EVER WANT TO BURN LESS OF THE HOLY PRETROLEUM?!??
these losers, I swear
WaterGirl
There’s an open thread up after the Ukraine post.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@zhena gogolia:
What has SNL done?
Jeffro
@different-church-lady: sorry…I don’t know what’s gotten into me tonight…I did it one more time just now but I’ll stop!
@Miss Bianca: officially dead here LOL
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
My ears perked up at this: “And he knew everyone. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez (I didn’t realize they were a thing)”
What / who is the movie about?
WaterGirl
@Jeffro: I know, that was such a great comment from Miss Bianca.
Harrison Wesley
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I liked the scenes with Johnny Cash, too. Had forgotten he wrote the liner notes for Nashville Skyline.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Sister Golden Bear: So, so fucked up.
Sister Golden Bear
And right on schedule the OPM issues a federal bathroom ban for trans people, and the memo also appears to have even far more sinister implications.
I’ll note that the OPM requires any reference to “gender” be changed to “sex” and cites a prior EO that defines “sex” as being assigned at conception* and which can never be changed
*Speculation is that the EO was also trying to establish “fetal personhood” as well.
different-church-lady
@Jeffro: FUCK THAT, YELL ALL YOU WANT!!! ;-)
Jackie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
As long as MAGA senators stay in lockstep with three or less defectors, I assume ALL of the FFOTUS nominees will be confirmed.
I hope to be proven wrong…
different-church-lady
@WaterGirl: NOT WHEN I’M THROUGH!!!!
Quinerly
@Chief Oshkosh:
Here’s a good summary on the abortion portion of the hearing.
https://jessica.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-hearing-abortion-transcript?open=false#%C2%A7mifepristone
Harrison Wesley
@WaterGirl: Bob Dylan. I thought it was great and so did my fellow Olds I was with.
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I made the mistake of clicking on their cold open on YouTube because Lin-Manuel Miranda was in it. It was sickening. I can’t even describe it. They just let their crappy Trump impersonator go on and on, aggrandizing him, while Miranda dressed as Hamilton has to just stand there and listen. It’s not funny, it’s not satirical, it’s just sickening.
Sister Golden Bear
@Quinerly: Studying “safety issues” around mifepristone to find a reason to ban it is the exact same play they’ll be using to ban hormones (and other healthcare) for trans people. And the exact same play they’ll use to ban the pill and other forms of contraception.
Jay
@TONYG:
And the key graph,
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: Bob Dylan
The only songwriter ever to win the Nobel Prize for Literature
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jackie: Crap. Thanks.
RevRick
@Trollhattan: Drill, baby, drill is the stupidest solution imaginable. Oil companies will not drill, baby, drill a single drop of oil, if the demand is not there and if the costs of extraction are too high. Oil prices are set by the global market with many countries contributing to the overall supply. And with renewable energy sources growing both in absolute numbers and as an increasing share of overall energy supply, the last thing Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP want is a glut that drives down prices and cuts into their profits.
The major oil companies are currently sitting on thousands of drilling permits. They have made the calculations that all the capital expenditures necessary just aren’t worth it now. Offering them thousands more drilling permits won’t change that reality one bit. In fact, the big oil companies have to consider that buying permits might stick them with negative assets. Stuff they will never be able to extract profitably.
This, of course, doesn’t even begin to face the reality of global warming and climate change. Instead of building resilience and investing in renewable energy sources, this strategy takes us in exactly the wrong direction. The delusion of billionaires is that they can somehow immunize themselves from the consequences. Their billions depend upon a complex economy with a huge network of consumers. But complexity also means fragility.
Climate change will stretch and break the fragile systems of the global economy. We already see warning signs in the insurance industry, a key link in the real estate and banking sectors.
The Alfred E. Neumans who lead the GOP may be insisting, “What, me worry?” But the rest of us see the screaming stupidity of their energy policy.
Quinerly
@Sister Golden Bear:
Mother Jones has a piece up about the latest EO.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/trump-tells-doj-to-prosecute-teachers-who-unlawfully-support-trans-or-nonbinary-students
Jackie
@Quinerly: I can’t adequately express my hatred for the FFOTUS. Nine days into his administration…
How in the hell does America and democracy survive the next four years? I don’t think I can.
Betty Cracker
@Shalimar: Students studying in this country on a visa can’t vote, so the protesters being targeted don’t “withhold” a ballot from Harris. I’m sure some of the protesters in question acted like privileged assholes, but isn’t it possible others were sincerely appalled by U.S. support for Israel’s civilian bombardment and ethnic cleansing operation? Shouldn’t they have the right to express that? Do you trust ghouls like Stephen Miller to sort the “good” protesters from the “bad” ones? If not, maybe heh heh FAFO isn’t a great reaction.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I had real problems with the protesters from the beginning and throughout, and for a number of reasons. One was pragmatic: I never thought they were in effect good allies for the Palestinians whose cause they’d taken up.
I never hated them though. But even I did, it would be hypocritical for me to complain when Republicans deport the people they hate and then cheer them on when they deport the people I hate.
sab
@Geminid: I never thought most of them were pro-Palestinian. Lots of them were, but the attention grabbers had other purposes, mostly Russian.
Manyakitty
@sab: yep