(Some of) Trump’s Wildest Executive Orders Explained
I owe one of you commentors a thank-you for introducing me to Josh Johnson — his videos have been very soothing, over the past couple of turbulent news weeks. (Although he’s hardly apolitical!)
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Fear or fury? The choice is ours.
You cannot love your country only when you win.
There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.
JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?
Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.
At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.
They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.
Democracy cannot function without a free press.
Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.
They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!
But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.
Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.
Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?
FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.
One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.
Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.
Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.
Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.
Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.
“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”
A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.
The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.
Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.
Geminid
Rabbit rabbit.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Did any other president during a signing ceremony lift up a copy of an executive order he had signed and show it to the press for pictures like he does?
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
To prove it’s not a blank sheet of paper?
Wonder if he knows that, although a percentage of operations have been moved to Tennessee, there are still Sharpies being produced in China?
sab
@Geminid: Thank you for the reminder. I always miss the first of the month rituals.
NotMax
@sab
A highlight of my mundane retirement is changing the calendars.
;)
sab
@NotMax: Since your weather has events not seasons.
How are you doing with current event?
Our month of snow is melting so leakage into the basement. The cats are not happy or amused.
I meant to go to seasonal work today but instead mopped the newly very damp basement.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Just proving ( still have my doubts) that he can read.
One of my stepsons is severely dyslexic. He has a hard time reading. But he has total recall about everything he has ever heard. He can watch a movie once and recite the whole dialogue afterwards. Kind of amazing. They loved him when he worked in a subway sandwich shop. He could remember every order perfectly.
I don’t think Trump can do that,
sab
@NotMax: Fuck. Events intruded, so I didn’t get the last few hours of my seasonal job into January pay period. Urk.
Geminid
@sab: How is the grade around your house? Basements can leak for many reasons; one common one is the backfill settling. Then, instead of running away from the foundation, water runs towards it. This wouldn’t be too hard to fix.
BethanyAnne
I’ve been enjoying Josh’s videos recently, too. The strip club story is fabulous.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Geminid:
I have a basement question. Does it make any sense to leave the small windows open during the summer months and close them during the winter months?
@NotMax:
I think he just likes to show off his signature and what a “big man” he is.
It’s Trump, what do you think lol?
@sab:
A plausible theory for sure.
And yeah, I don’t think Trump, especially these days, would have that kind or recall
MagdaInBlack
Pardon please if this has been mentioned, but I see elno has made it to the Social Security site. Its…”not available at this time.” “Please try again during regular hours.”
I checked because I was curious.
sab
@Geminid: We are at the very top of a hill. I think somebody years ago fucked up with eaves and eaves troughs.
Everything should run downhill but doesn’t seem to.
VeniceRiley
Our social security is going to be paid out in memecoin, innit?
sab
@sab: I overbought those weird inflatible sandbags from Hammacher Schlemmer. I bought too many, but we have used them all this winter. Very useful.
I used to ridicule that catalogue because of the silly insanely expensive things on the cover ( e.g. this year’s boat with hot-tub on board ). But inside they have a lot of very useful stuff. Inflatable sandbags. Deck furniture nice enough for the living room and dining room.
sab
@MagdaInBlack: Very yikes. They ( Social Security Administration) even made me get a new e-mail because my old one wasn’t sufficiently secure. Then they turned it all over to the Muskrats.
WTFGhost
@Geminid: I was told the tradition was *three* – “rabbit rabbit rabbit.” But, good timing, first response, first of the month!
WTFGhost
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I don’t know why, but he loves showing off his Sharpie(tm) signature. When showing off murder victims, of undocumented migrants, he autographed all the pictures. Of murder victims. With no-erase pen.
Normally, an autographed grip-n-grin photo is standard if you want to give people a memento, but the selfie has taken over, which, in my mind, is nice – though a (lightly airbrushed) grip-n-grin is a *hell* of a memento – but seriously? Autographing the pictures of murder victims? who the eff does that?
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Sharpies write very big. That’s why I don’t use them. That’s why Trump does. Obtrusive and obnoxious.
MagdaInBlack
@sab: And its back. I bought into the panic and I apologize. It will not happen again.
sab
@MagdaInBlack: But the Muskrats are still in there.
MagdaInBlack
@sab: Yes, he is. I just promise to keep my panic over that to myself. No need to feed it.
Good Morning ?
WTFGhost
@sab: I take it this is not like The Captain and Tennille, Muskrat Love? Ah well.
sab
@MagdaInBlack: Wow. It is morning already. The cats have even gone to sleep after spending their night harrassing each other.
WTFGhost
Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?
“I don’t know, have you ever danced with the dark stranger for decades at a time?”
MagdaInBlack
@WTFGhost: In that it is every bit as nauseating, very much like.
sab
@sab: Time to make oatmeal.
Double boilers are amazing. No stirring is even needed.
bjacques
@WTFGhost: yes. Yes, I have.
SSA site seems to work. I’m reading about the Fairness Act.
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html?tl=0%2C2%2C3%2C4%2C5%2C8%2C9
Geminid
@sab: I was thinking more of the ground right at your foundation. Typically, the excavation for a basement is 2-3 feet wider than the foundation. This allows for waterproofing and placement of drain tile* at the bottom.
Then, once the house is framed, the foundation cut is “backfilled.” The fill needs to be tamped some as its added so it doesn’t settle too much. But over time the dirt can settle. Then, instead of sloping away from basement wall it towards it and that’s where the water goes.
You can probably tell by eye if you take a good look around the house perimeter. Inside corners are often trouble spots. A four foot level will tell for sure.
The remedy is adding more dirt and compacting it until the grade at the foundation wall is a couple higher inches higher than it is four feet away. It’s best to use clay-type dirt because it sheds water better than say, bagged topsoil.
* These days builders lay flexible, corregated, perforated black plastic pipe around the base of a foundation. They connect it to solid pipe which conveys the water away from the house. Then it’s covered with gravel .
This is called drain tile because they used tile pipe in the old days.
Sometimes the outlet for the drain tile gets covered over and that can cause problems if the water backs up.
Betty Cracker
I fell asleep around midnight and woke up just before 2 AM ET and couldn’t go back to sleep. My mind was racing. So I decided to lounge on the sofa to watch Great British Bake Off reruns. That show is like digital Xanax for me.
Anyhoo, I’m hampered in my efforts to get comfortable by the two dogs, who are arranging themselves around me for warmth. (It’s 65F, and the windows are open so we can hear the frogs singing.)
We have an L-shaped sofa that is theoretically large enough for two full-sized adults to lounge on. But somehow these 20 and 25 lb. dogs spread themselves out in such a way that I barely have room to lie down. It shouldn’t be physically possible, and yet it is so.
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Summer months have higher humidity and that could be a reason to vent a basement. You’d want to close the windows to conserve heat in the wintertime.
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: ❤️ @ “so we can hear the frogs singing.” Here, that is my personal signal that its spring. It is one of my favorite sounds.
Eta: Ozark and I both marked the first “spring peeper” of the year.
bjacques
@MagdaInBlack: I have heard the froggies singing each to each. I do not think they will sing to me.
A crackling fire can be soothing too. It’s too late for Adam’s nightly Ukraine post, so I’ll drop it here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/01/russian-spy-ship-fire-exposes-poor-state-of-mediterranean-fleet-say-experts
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: i read on bsky tonight that along with control of payroll, they have access to peoples financial information. I very much object to this. What could go wrong?
sab
@Betty Cracker: In Ohio it is 65° becaise that is where we set the thermostat. Outside ia 20°.
The dog and the cats are snuggling which is annoying as hell. One of the girl cats weighs eleven pounds and wants to sleep on my hip. Too big, girl. Dog keeps trying to crowd out all the other cats, which seems to include me. Not what the dog intended, but at 2 am I am not rational or forgiving. “Go sleep in the hall! Every one of you!”
Gloria DryGarden
@bjacques: Cool that you found this.
i don’t think it’s ever too late to add to the Ukraine page. I just assume that people go back and read it much later, on days they can stand it. Surely I’m not alone in that?
I often start with the comments, and glean a little bit, glance through for international relations stuff, and scroll really fast through the military strategy stuff, and the drones, dead, and broken bombed buildings, I just can’t, except I can understand and be glad to read of any successes, like a big percentage of ruzzian drones captured.
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: i so love frogs. I think I get high, or, perhaps it’s just rapture, when I hear them. I hope BC will make us a recording.
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: would it be useful to have a stack of thrift store towels you leave arranged to soak up these leaks? Just until you fix your eaves, drainage, gradient situation. How annoying.
Gloria DryGarden
Anne Laurie, I scrolled past this josh johnson video earlier today, and meant to find it again. Thank you.
I rely on Josh for perspective, the way I relied on Trevor Noah. It’s so needed.
sab: I meant people’s.
sometimes autocorrect offers correct choices, and capitalizes names too. It’s so hard to get my cursor in the right place to fix things on this tablet.
Betty Cracker
@sab: We used to have boxer pairs until we downsized to a Boston terrier and Boston-Frenchie cross. Somehow the little guys take up more room! Should not be possible.
@Gloria DryGarden: Here’s an old post with an embedded recording of the frogs. Enjoy!
Gloria DryGarden
@Betty Cracker: Thank you.
Betty Cracker
@bjacques: I also often think of J. Alfred when I hear the froggies sing. :) And when I wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
MagdaInBlack
@Gloria DryGarden: You are not alone. I read Adam’s Ukraine posts later, partly because I want to read the comments, many of which are also informative.
Geminid
@bjacques: One problem for Russia’s Mediterranean fleet is they haven’t been able to transit the Turkish Straits since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022. That’s when Turkiye exercised its rights under the Treaty of Montreux to bar passage to belligerent warships. Russia’s Mediterranean fleet could no longer access Russia’s more extensive naval facilities in the Black Sea for repairs. Also, Russia could not augment their Black Sea fleet.
The Treaty of Montreux was signed around 1935. It regulates maritime passage through the Turkish Straits separating the Mediterranean and Black Seas. After WWII, the Soviet Union asked that the Treaty of Montreux be renegotiated but Turkiye put them off. Then they joined Nato in 1952. The Treaty of Montreux and the Nato alliance are two cornerstones of Turkiye’s national security.
WereBear
The Federal Employees Resistance is vital and heartening. Be fired up and ready to go!
Betty Cracker
@WereBear: Yes, and we ordinary citizens have got to back them up and make a lot of noise. It’s a weird feeling watching this unfold. Republicans have been trying to destroy the government as long as I can remember. Now they’ve got their bulldozers and wrecking balls in place for the most dire assault yet. We’ve all got to be the monkeys in the wrench.
Geminid
Some good Middle East news, from Clash Report:
Gene
Why am I asked to sign in to Google to watch a video here to prove I’m not a bot? “This helps protect our community ” it says.
This has happened quite a few times recently. I’m not doing it.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker:
“Wenches with Wrenches, and Mensches with Wrenches.”
TBone
After tube feeding at 9:30 pm, I put Noah The Love Cat on a pillow next to my pillow last night. He got up and scooted over and laid his cheek on my forehead, purring…
Yesterday the animal hospital called to say “You missed your appointment today!” I said that’s because we were there on Wednesday and the vet said Noah is dying and I thought it was cancelled! She said “oh WE don’t cancel appointments, YOU have to do it.” I told her I was in too much shock and grief to remember to do so on Wednesday after getting the final diagnosis. I explained that the vet on Wednesday scheduled in home euthanasia for Monday and asked her to confirm that (she did). I asked her to be sure that vet calls first so we can prepare and explained that Noah is still showing interest in life. He still uses his litterbox, he still shows great affection, and is not in any pain. I told about him voluntarily eating food for the first time on Thursday.
A few hours later, they called back to let me know we don’t have to stick to their euthanasia schedule and that they will be on standby with me this week instead.
I hate being on death watch.
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: Shall I part my hair in front? Do I dare to eat a peach?
Baud
I wonder what Edward Snowden and all the metadata warriors think of Elon Musk rooting around in government databases.
TBone
@sab:
@MagdaInBlack:
Oh SHIT hubby gonna go ballistic! All hell will break loose if he finds out about this part of Chaos Monkey Wrecking Ball. Thankfully he has tuned out from most of the news
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: Please see my comment # 20.
Good morning.
And # 22
Geminid
@Gene: I’ve seen some Middle East news sites like Kurdistan24 that do the bot test. I usually pass it.
But like you, I am wary of internet tricks. And cynical too. I’ve been accepting cookies for years, and I’ve yet to receive one fu*king macaroon!
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: As we warned them. The rural white people in red states had no idea how much the Democrats had been helping them.
Until, maybe, now.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: thank you!
Good morning 🌞 I am still listening to badass R.L. today
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cI4q5EiNKQU
Happy Black History Month everyone!
R.L. got some hot licks in that one 🔥
Ohio Mom
@Geminid: Also, a good blast of frigid air in the winter and those pipes running through the basement can freeze and burst.
We had an air leak because the front basement wall was beginning to bow, and about that ran against the top of that wall. I learned that a pipe breaking sounds like an explosion. Well, I guess it is an explosion. Luckily I was home and knew where the water shutoff valve was.
satby
AL, it was probably either John or me who first sent you a Josh Johnson clip; we’re both huge fans. He’s a scéalaí, a storyteller in the best way, a wise old soul in a young man’s body.
Geminid
@Baud: Snowden’s probably waiting for Musk to send him his FBI and NSA files.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: yay Turkiye. So glad. Somebody is stopping some bad stuff somewhere. It’s something.
satby
@MagdaInBlack: When I lived in MI next to a wetland, the neighbors used to say it wasn’t really spring until the peepers were heard and then quiet again three times. And they were so loud I could hear them even through the closed windows if nothing else was on. I miss that.
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: Thank you for blues with my Saturday morning wake n bake n coffee.
Gloria DryGarden
@WTFGhost: im trying to learn about this rabbit rabbit rabbit thing in the first, it’s a tradition no one’s told me about. And since it’s a tradition, or folklore, I need to learn it word of mouth, not from google.ai. I’ll ask around.
WereBear
@TBone: I know, it’s a terrible time but it’s also our chance to tell them all they have meant to us.
I know they like that.
My 80-in-people-years cat, Sir Tristan, just pulled out of a tailspin and is recovering. But he’s eating, even asking for goodies, which I have stocked.
Then again, the clock is always ticking. One of my vets said it’s sad, but when they are very old and happy, it has its lovely side.
“They don’t want to leave their people.”
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: it’s a wake and bake WEEK! 💜
TBone
@WereBear: thank you my compadre! Hugs and gentle kisses on your forehead.
MagdaInBlack
@satby: It is a nostalgia inducing sound for me, too. It’s part of the reason I take the route I do to work. It goes through Cook County Forest Preserve swampy land, so lotsa peepers in the spring =-)
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@WereBear: What resistance? I’m a federal employee and I feel like we’re being bulldozed and getting help from exactly nobody.
I’m probably not going to take the severance package because it doesn’t seem like the offer is coming through normal government channels so they probably wouldn’t give to me – Musk has a Trumpian habit of stiffing people on severance packages – and even if they did if the payments aren’t legal I’m guessing they could come after me for the money later.
But I’m updating my resume and thinking about contacting people outside government for a job. I figure if I separate voluntarily I might be able to keep the pension I have built up whereas if they force us out who knows? But my guess is our pensions will be gone. Yeah we have a contract but what is that worth in this post-legal environment? I suppose they can’t take away our thrift savings 401k as that’s our money we paid in but who knows? Technically we’re paying for the pension too but if they find a way to fire for cause no matter how flimsy the excuse I think they can take that a way.
Haven’t slept well in days so if there’s some solidarity movement out there where I could find some comfort and advice I’d appreciate if someone could tell me how to find it.
At least I’ve been living well within my means and have a nest egg built up so I can make ends meet for awhile. Plus my wife is in health care and we can probably eke out a living on her salary indefinitely but wouldn’t be putting any more money away. At least we can move me and my son into her health care plan though.
Speaking of my son he’s black – adopted from South Africa so now I’m maybe I need to find a way to get legal status in South Africa in case he gets deported.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: you’re on love watch. IMHO.
When it’s his time, he’ll tell you, you’ll know to ask. Meanwhile, can you just carry on like it’s all the new normal, and enjoy all this love you’re exchanging? It’s clear to me he wants to be there with you right now. He is enjoying this love fest as much as you, perhaps?
My cat lived two weeks after I thought it was over. We hung out, it was deeply sweet. Colors fade in many memories, but that time is still vivid and clear for me, 38 years ago.
my tablet doesn’t have emojis, so picture a bunch of hugs and care symbols. I need to get the emoji drawing team to draw the lily pad hands, so on my other device I can send that (not on bj).
Baud
Via Reddit, new acronym.
Geminid
@TBone: Ahh. Life in the Keystoned State.
Ohio Mom
@WereBear: I suspect Trump’s henchmen think the federal workforce is mostly clerks, doing the sorts of repetitive tasks clerks do.
But the people staffing federal agencies tend to be highly educated and their jobs usually require reading and interpretating lots of fine print. They do long-range planning, write detailed reports and do complicated calculations.
They are not going to be easily fooled or lead astray by those bumblers. They know where every bureaucratic lever is and how to use them creatively. So I am counting on them to derail at least some of the worst thrown at them.
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: i remember those forest preserves. Lovely kind nature oases in the suburbs.
Baud
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Have you checked out reddit fednews? Some fellow travelers if nothing else.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/
WereBear
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: You have to do what is best for you.
People don’t have to comply with illegal orders. Ally with the side of the law, and there are suits already filed about it, and you will have allied with the people you seek.
None of us are getting the future we should have had. But we can still insist on what was promised. This is the new boss who comes in and causes a major problem in the first month. That’s when we know, whatever happens, something big is now inevitable.
It will only get worse because Trump is demented, but it’s also why this is the slasher movie version of the slower, downplayed horror of the first admin.
They have no new tricks. They just break the law. All we have to do, in various ways, is insist on the law being followed. You have a lot of others on that side.
Gloria DryGarden
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: prayers for you.
So glad you have resources, and some ideas and plans. It sounds really unpleasant and scary.
It would be a strange breach, to be able to nullify someone’s 401 k pension that they’ve put into. But, IANAL. It will piss a lot of people off, if things unfold in some of the ways you mention.
Baud
At least she’s not old.
Gloria DryGarden
@Ohio Mom: Be it so…
Ohio Mom
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I get that you are justifiably rattled, and I feel for you, but you have just demonstrated the skills I listed: long-range planning, doing calculations, carefully interpreting the fine print of that ridiculous offer. Hopefully the leadership to harness the federal workforce’s awesome skill sets will arise — quickly.
WereBear
I recently discovered Josh Johnson, and I also watch Reese Waters and his “Troubled Waters” show.
Comedy helps a lot.
Glory b
@satby: Wait, what? I thought all old people were supposed to get shoved aside and shipped off to care homes so young people can run the world!
He needs to reject that old soul from his body before young people find out.
But then again, black people don’t reject their older people like white people do. We’ve always had an “us against the world (or, frankly “the world against us”) state of hive mind, we can’t afford to push anyone out of the fold.
A running observation in the black community has always been noting how disrespectful white people are towards elders.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: Wow. Just….wow.
Ohio Mom
@Baud: I am grimly amused they are keeping LGB. That shows a certain amount of societal progress.
Ramalama
I panic purchased a monitor for my laptop that’s all wrong for me. It’s Feb 1 and Canada awaits with maple-tinged breath about whether or not we will be subject to a man-made recession.
Going to have to return the monitor because I didn’t do my homework and hate it taking up so much space on my desk. I like looking out my windows and so am going to bear it, the 16 inch screen from my laptop.
@TBone: ugh I’m sorry. We had to put down our assassin of a dog in December. He wasn’t my love dog but he chose me and he was all mine, that little fucking bastard.
Baud
@Ohio Mom:
My thought too. Interesting what they think they can get away with and what they can’t.
Gloria DryGarden
@Baud: She needs to live in a cold place without a furnace for a few months, then she can speak about electricity. She has no idea, but i went through that just last winter.
Until a friend brought me an electric heater, my house got down to 42, for weeks. If she’s wishing that on others, I trust it will backfire and she’ll get an experience.
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: They might be separating “LGB” and “TQ” in order to push a wedge issue within the larger community. I’ve seen some debate about this in recent years.
Gloria DryGarden
@WereBear: good luck with your cat. Enjoy your time together, hope it’s sweet and full of love.
Ramalama, gods you have a way with words. Sorry about your loss, even if he was an assassin dog, you loved him.
Baud
@Gloria DryGarden:
Won’t matter. Her suffering won’t bring empathy. She thinks she’s entitled to electricity and you’re not.
Barbara
@Baud: “It’s okay because Jesus didn’t have electricity” doesn’t seem like the status quo Trump voters were voting to bring back.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: And no doubt she will always have it. This woman will not want when times are tough for others.
Barbara
@Gloria DryGarden: I think the rejoinder should be more like, “are you saying Trump is okay if Americans lose electricity?”
The Thin Black Duke
@Barbara: Susan Werner had a few thoughts on that peculiar mindset.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Christ on a cracker, for real? That’s so much more insulting than “let them eat cake.” Off to shift some investment funds to guillotine futures…
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I believe we import guillotines from Canada.
.
.
It all makes sense now.
ETA
Fixed.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: I think that’s right. At least some of the right-wing oligarchs who are actually running things are gay men.
Betty Cracker
Bill and I have been married for 27 years, and it still freaks me out when he puts jam on RYE toast. Who does that?!
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: I like orange marmalade on toasted pumpernickel……
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Tell him Trump does that. It might work.
Betty
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I believe members of Congress could be filing filing lawsuits to put a halt to some of the worst of this. Intervention is essential.
The Thin Black Duke
@Betty Cracker: To be fair, I don’t get peanut butter AND jelly sandwiches.
(shudder)
Glory b
@Gloria DryGarden: Hes seems fairly amusing (I’m not known for my sense of humor), but he got a couple facts wrong, so keep that in mind.
JPL
Holy shit, We are in trouble as a nation. Who the hell releases billions of gallons of water to take pictures and brag!? WTH
Fortunately I slept far more than most. 3 hours. wahoo
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: yum two great things that go great together!
WereBear
@MagdaInBlack: But jam and caraway seeds. Bridge too far.
TBone
@Baud: SO glad I worked at the Colonial Plantation without electricity so I got skillz
Glory b
@Betty: No, they don’t have standing.
In other words, they don’t have a particular act of harm done to them. You can’t file against him just because you don’t like what he’s doing.
This is why the state Democratic Attorneys General are filing.
I’m in Pennsylvania and we voted in a Republican Attorney General, so he’s not participating.
He successfully painted his opponent as being soft on crime, even though in PA, most of the things the AG does are civil, District Attorneys handle crime.
Again, lack of civics education rears its ugly head.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: if she doesn’t I will and will email it to you if I can figure out the technology on my dumbphone. We have so many peepers here in the Spring, in the swampy roughs of the Bucknell Golf Course I live next to.
Baud
Right Wing Media gets premium space at the Pentagon. (Official document at link).
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: Sab is the one who hipped me to Puppy Pee Pads which saved my life AGAIN this morning when Noah put his butt over the edge of his easy-step litterbox last night. I have hardwood floors and that could have been ugly! I only discovered it this morning…don’t know how long it’s been there but the pads soaked up every drop and not my floors.
Starfish (she/her)
TBone
Please forgive any irrelevant comments I make today, as I am not on my usual device and am scattered with extra nursing duties and household stuff that has been left undone too long. I am trying to catch up and stay on an even keel by being able to participate here with all my beloved Jackals
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
IIRC, the ‘I’ stands for ‘intersex,’ and intersex persons were born that way, with physical characteristics of both sexes. What’s the Trumpists’ problem with them? I thought they were saying one’s gender at birth was controlling.
TBone
@The Thin Black Duke: that’s like Oscar Mayer bologna, cheese “food” wrapped in cellophane AND Miracle Whip ha ha ha ha ha – which I have had to eat in a pinch involuntarily
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
It’s gender at conception.
Barbara
@TBone: I am sorry for you and your kitty. Give yourself a break.
Starfish (she/her)
@Baud: They are bad at computers.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: thank you, that is exactly what we are doing. I hope you got my email from yesterday morning.
Starfish (she/her)
@Glory b: Mostly we wanted Trump shoved aside and sent to a care home but in a real sense and not the way Musk is doing it. No one voted for Musk, and he does not meet the requirements to be President.
TBone
@Barbara: 10-4 good buddy! That is why I am here on BJ right now, not looking at ANY other news today because I must focus and be present in my home today while hubby is at an appointment and I’m alone here for the first time since this all started. I’ll give my first tube feeding by myself today, hoping Noah doesn’t struggle (he is used to hubby holding him gently, checking his face the entire time to be sure he is comfortable, and whispering sweet nothings into his ear while I do the deed).
Phylllis
@NotMax: Thank you for the reminder.
Starfish (she/her)
@Betty: This is what I want them to do. The executive branch is usurping their power. They need to be suing and not confirming the nominees.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: i answered it. Was I being insensitive above? Sorry.
Calling it a death watch kind of hit me.
you’re in my thoughts a lot as you go through this.
Leto
@Starfish (she/her): per the Alt National Park Service group (former/current federal employees), the Muskovites were plugging in hard drives at OPM, Treasury, and GSA. “Tensions escalated” when they accessed the Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) which has all of the PII for federal employees. In response to civil servants speaking out, that’s when they were locked out of computer systems and offices, with personal items being searched.
Just bringing in unauthorized hard drives and loading up… JFC…
bluefoot
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Besides calling my representatives at the federal and state levels, I don’t know what else to do. I’ve been looking for organized protests/demonstrations to show solidarity, but so far nothing.
And it’s only going to get worse. They’re gutting government right now. What they can then do after they’ve gotten rid of the professionals is mind boggling. I think a lot of people don’t realize how bad it can get.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: I have pulled up email on the PC in my home office which I avoid like the plague, usually, because I am retired dammit and I hate full sized computer screens. But later today I will LOVE IT.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: no not insensitive AT ALL your words throughout this entire nightmare have brought me nothing but joy and solace.
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: try lemon marmalade. Or if you can get it, grapefruit marmalade. I’ve only found it once. I bet those would be great.
i used to adore pumpernickel. Any kind of rye bread was perfect for turkey avo basil and red pepper sandwiches.
Geminid
@Barbara: Leavitt’s reference to Jesus was incongruous, and also impolitic I think. The Republican coalition is an alliance between conservative Evangelicals and more secular conservatives. I alway thought that made a potential fault line. Leavitt invoking Jesus over a tarriff fight won’t be as popular with the Republican base as she may think.
It might be especially irritating to Republican-voting Independents. There probably are several reasons conservative Independents don’t identify as Republicans; I suspect one is distrust of the Bible-thumpers and their influence in the Party.
There is potentially a deep political downside to everything this administration is doing and saying. That is largely because of the economic downside. I think there is a recession coming and these tarriffs will exacerbate it. Then, Americans will see how badly the social safety net has been shredded. And the social safety net also helps keep the general economy from hitting the ground.
And the transition between the Trump administration from Biden’s h been so abrupt and the contrast so sharp there will be no doubt where the responsiblity lies. Trump and his minions will of course try to frame Biden and the Democrats, but that won’t work no matter how they try.
And I don’t see an economic upside. Republicans keep trying this Cut-Taxes-and-Deregulate strategy and it keeps not working. And if there is economic upside, there’s no upside.
So taking the long-term view from 25,000 feet, I think the last ten days started the erosion of the Republican coalition, and that erosion will continue for years.
But that doesn’t make matters any less shitty at ground level right now!
We’ve been recovering from the Great Recession for over a
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: search my name and go back a few weeks, to read the little poems I sent, too, if you have time. They’re just sweet ones.
So glad you’re feeling supported.
I do mean it, it’s not a fucking death watch. It’s life. Living with, being given time, and grace to accept something very painful, and to get just a little bit more time in the love bubble, even if it also shakes your heart open.
I sound like I’m lecturing. Fuck me, I should go get some sleep.
i should probably give myself an hour a day to just cry and lament about my country, just all the feelings, so they can pass like weather. Your time with Noah seems like a jewel, to me.
Phylllis
@Betty Cracker: Jam on rye, never thought of that. I am intrigued by Bill’s ideas and would like to subscribe to his newsletter.
AM in NC
MAGOP CORRUPTION and the many ways it harms each and every one of us.
THIS is what I think we need to have as our overarching, underlying, always hit upon message. People do not like being ripped off. They do not like being ripped off by rich fucks. They do not like being ripped off by rich fucks who get away with murder themselves.
EVERY time a Democrat elected official, spokesperson, liberal activist, or normal American against fascism speaks to press (or anyone, really) we should be hitting on Trump/MAGOP corruption and how their corruption is harming regular Americans.
Trump freezing funds for Air Traffic Control during his first term so he could give billionaires like Musk ANOTHER tax cut is responsible for the DC crash. You can’t keep every single airport in the US understaffed ON PURPOSE so Rupert Murdoch can buy another yacht and expect there won’t be crashes. Trump/MAGOP consistently choose enriching Musk, Murdoch, and the billionaire class over adequately funding airport safety. It was a CHOICE. They chose badly. America and Americans suffer.
Musk being given the keys to the Social Security payment system and all of a sudden regular citizens can’t access it? CORRUPTION. Giving the billionaires the keys to the treasury to loot for themselves? It’s a CHOICE that Trump/MAGA made. They Chose badly. America and Americans suffer.
Trump PARDONED Jan. 6th criminals who attacked our police officers and ALREADY one of them has been killed in an armed conflict with police. Trump’s/MAGA’S CORRUPTION let violent cop-killers back on our streets where they immediately attacked cops again. They chose badly. America and Americans suffer.
Trump/MAGA CORRUPTION has God-awful real-world consequences for all of us. WHATEVER THE TOPIC – NatSec, foreign policy, economy, taxation, regulations – WHATEVER – tie it to Trump/MAGOP CORRUPTION and greed, and how that directly harms America and Americans.
Ramalama
@Betty Cracker: my dad ate like that, jam on rye. One time we found the downstairs peanut butter had a pencil in it. Dad spent a lot of time downstairs. We kids surmised he may have used the pencil to aid in scooping the peanut butter to his mouth rather than using his uncouth fingers.
NotMax
@Phylllis
Prune butter on rye toast is heavenly.
Starfish (she/her)
@Leto: That’s bananas. They are also digging through files looking for trans people to blame for stuff that they didn’t do.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: there’s a drain pipe buried around the outside of our foundations? It has some porous open quality on top, so water gets in there? I never heard of this. I’ll ask my construction experienced buddy. This is like hearing about a magic trick.
Leto
Chief Oshkosh
@TBone: I am so sorry; I’ve experienced those watches, too. It’s to be endured.
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: That’d be nice to believe. What I *fear* is that when they start to get unpopular, that’s when the guns come out and they just start slaughtering the rest of us. The Republican coalition won’t fall apart if the alternative is being dead.
Liminal Owl
@TBone: So much sympathy for you and Noah. Sending any available good energy. I’m glad you have even a few days more with him and hope the suffering eases.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I expect there are culturally and politically conservative Lesbians too. My friend Joan told me about a group of Lesbians she met on the Eastern Shore who were Trump supporters. This was back during his first term.
Joan didn’t sound surprised, either. Joan’s a very liberal Democrat, but she’s met a lot of other Lesbians over the past 50 years and she knows they come in all kinds of types.
frosty
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: My sons are adopted and naturalized. I spent some time reading up on denaturalization and Steven Miller’s plans. There is no fraud and nothing to trigger it in an international adoption process. Even if there’s no legal system any more we should be pretty far down on the priority list.
I had them get passport cards to keep in their wallets after the 2016 election.
Ohio Mom
@AM in NC: So clearly stated. I hope someone with a megaphone will say the same.
Kay
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
The reason Musk wants you to take the fake severance package is because that’s a voluntary separation and then you can’t sue.
The only real accountability any of these people have faced is in the civil legal system – plaintiff’s lawyers. The criminal system utterly failed but suing for money damages did not fail – Giuliani.
If you’re harmed and there’s money damages you (and tens of thousands of others) can sue. Employees really can throw a wrench into the works of this coup. Make is so all they do is respond to lawsuits.
frosty
@Baud: What The Actual Fuck???? Jesus didn’t have lights or a refrigerator either. How can you get to 27 years old and be so loony?
i know, I know!!!!! Home schooling!
prostratedragon
“Real Steal” ad from Congressional Dems
Leto
Matt McIrvin
@frosty: The passport card seems like a good idea because it at least provides one level of safeguard against “Look, I have a passport!” *yoink* “No you don’t.”
Baud
@frosty:
I don’t think it’s looney. I’m pretty sure it’s factually accurate that Jesus didn’t have electricity.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
As a now-retired fed, lemme commiserate with everybody else over your plight.
I’m like you, ‘what resistance’, basing that on how I know the offices and people I supported over 6 states, their reactions, how management, never adroit on a good day, must be flailing on days like these. “Bulldozed” is exactly how the ones I’ve contacted are feeling.
But, if there’s one thing I learned in my gazillion years with Club Fed, *never* do anything hastily. Wait. Then wait some more.
Good luck.
Kay
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
The Dominion lawsuit is another example of the civil system functioning when the criminal justice system failed.
Plaintiff’s lawyers (Dominion’s lawyers) won that one too. They’re not afraid of Donald Trump or Fox News or the whole far Right apparatus. They just sue. Employees can get one of those lawyers and sue too.
Ohio Mom
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Here’s a glimmer from today’s NYT: “New Group Aims to Help Justice Dept. Employees Alarmed by Trump”
And here is the group’s website: https://www.thejusticeconnection.org/
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
That would just make them more unpopular.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@TBone:
Like others have said, it never gets easy. I once had a vet tell me:
“You don’t have to wait until an animal is suffering; the best call is just before the suffering starts”
That eventually informed many of our decisions regarding end-of-life treatment for the gazillion kittehs we’ve had over the years.
We don’t always time it perfectly but we always realized that our beloved cats didn’t fear death, they just feared the pain of today and our job is to spare them as much of that pain as we can.
It’s so hard to know when. Good luck.
Geminid
@Betty: Axios had a couple articles earlier this week about the strategy House leaderhip have worked up to fight the Trump administration. They held a caucus meeting to discuss it Wednesday afternoon.
The strategy was described as three-fold, and one of the elements was litigation. The other two were communications and legislative. The latter would focus on the appropriations process.
Leto
@Kay: there was a second email that went out saying the resignation offers, “were totally legal.” Because that’s how you know things are on the up and up.
Trust me bro, it’s all good bro; I got you bro!
Down in the comments on that post were comments by vets talking about the bait and switch with veteran healthcare. This part about the 2017 Trumpov Tax Cuts is something I didn’t know:
Here are the cuts to veterans benefits laid out in Project 2025. Can’t wait!
Kay
@Leto:
The thing is, if you stormed the Capitol on behalf of a sleazy NYC real estate heir, attacked police officers, broke windows and took a shit on the floor things were not going well in your life.
Of course they re-offended after that offense and will continue to do so.
Starfish (she/her)
@Kay: There were other crimes that these folks had engaged in. One has been shot dead by police, and this lady is one of three that are in legal trouble for other things they were doing while just being bad people.
From whatever Chicago Star Media is:
tobie
One federal employee posted on Mastodon that it would help if you would broadcast the good things fed employees do right now since they have been called lazy and wasteful by rightwingers. If you live in a red county, write to your local paper. My red county would be a wasteland, were it not for federal and state subsidies.
Kay
@Leto:
This part is very simple. Taking the fake offer is a voluntary separation. That’s why they want you to do it, so they can replace you with a far Right cult member. Don’t volunteer. For anything. You should be in “preparing to sue” mode. You’re documenting, you’re refusing to volunteer and you’re meeting outside work hours and off site for info sharing sessions with other employees who are not volunteering to participate in a coup.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: you have also given jewels to me my friend. Take joy, comfort, and solace wherever you can find them, and I hope you sleep! Scream if you need to do that too. Now it’s me doing the “lecturing” ha ha ha!
Geminid
@Geminid: I meant to say “And if there is no economic upside, there’s no political upside.”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I see that Geminid gave a reply.
But the answer is “it depends”. What issue are you trying to mitigate? If you live somewhere that’s hot and humid in the summers, you don’t typically want those basement windows open.
Kay
@Starfish (she/her):
It was absolutely predictable. As I said – things were not going well for these people or they wouldn’t have been there. If you’re hanging out at the meth trailer at 2 AM your life is not going well and you’re making poor choices. Same.
TBone
@Geminid: will fix this
no rich peoples’ yacht money upside
Kay
@Starfish (she/her):
The entire Nazi rally audience didn’t go to the Capitol. These are the people who made that choice and every choice after that. They don’t make good decisions. Not then, not now.
E.
The video wants me to prove I am not a bot but gives me no options to do so. Forget it.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: Well, I didn’t say the Republican coalition would apart, just that it would erode.
But it’s nice to see you so cheerful on a sunny Saturday morning!
prostratedragon
@Baud: These people define “vicious cycle.” That might wind up slowing them down, though.
TBone
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: with this cat, every single time so far that I have even thought about reaching out for euthanasia services, he proves me wrong. I actually DID reach out to schedule it on Thursday at 4AM and then he got up and voluntarily ate food for the first time. Last night and today, he is taking to his favorite window perches to observe the goings on by neighbors outdoors and of the birds and purring like all get out!
ETA thank you for your words of encouragement and comfort, I meant to say!
Kay
I don’t mean to sound cavalier about suing. Suing is horrible. It’s very stressful for the plaintiffs. But it is a remedy and it is a remedy that the far Right have not been able to subvert. That system still functions to hold wrongdoers accountable and it is a huge pain the ass for the Trumpists.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: I recall someone over on… LGM? maybe, talking about how cops regard fascist militias. Cops in Boston like them when they come to town, because they show up, harass and terrify people who the cops don’t like either, then go home to Idaho or wherever. The cops in Idaho don’t actually like them because they live there and constantly cause trouble for their neighbors.
TBone
@tobie: I expanded my repertoire of epithets for these “interesting times” last night – these might come in handy:
Bescumber: A word from the early 20th century meaning “to spray poo upon.”
Scobberlotcher: One who never works hard.
…
No definitions necessary:
Mosquito-buggerer, pissflap, shitnubber, dickcheese, pettifogger…
Another Scott
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): @Geminid:
It can be complicated.
Insects and mold need water, like most life. Air is indeed more humid in the summer.
The thinking on this (venting or not) seems to vary depending on your location and one also has to consider things like how good the insulation is above the basement/crawl space. If you have air conditioned rooms above the vented space, with poor insulation, then you can get condensation near the air conditioned spaces if outside vents are open.
A couple of decades ago, I put down thick plastic sheeting and closed the 2 vents and tried to increase the insulation in the floor and walls for the crawl space for the addition that was built over part of our driveway. It seems Ok (here in NoVA).
There are crawlspace dehumidifiers that are often used as well. In that case, one closes the vents and tries to seal it up as well as you can (and regularly watch the dehumidifier to make sure it hasn’t failed and is draining properly).
The main thing to remember is that: 1) water is life. 2) water is the universal solvent. You have to control water in and around your home or there will be issues.
My $0.02.
Best wishes,
Scott.
tobie
@Kay: i hope someone is setting up.a legal fund for fired, demoted or transferred employees open to going this route. They can’t afford a suit on their own.
Who has standing to sue Musk & Co for accessing the Treasury’s payment system? DoJ won’t do that so I’m wondering how this infiltration makes it to the courts for an emergency injunction.
MomSense
@sab:
They write very big and he has to hide that he doesn’t actually know how to form the Letters in his own fucking name. His signature looks like a really bad EKG
tobie
@TBone: Scobberlotcher’s a good one! It sounds icky and those who receive that epithet, deserve it.
ETA: “bescumber” is even better.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
Police (as a group) have made very poor political decisions too. I think if I had watched the entire Republican Party stand behind the GOP base who attacked Capitol police I’d reconsider my support for Republicans. The enemy of your enemy is not your friend. That’s something stupid people heard and repeat because it makes them sound very “strategic” but it’s never true.
Police are on their own as far as I’m concerned. There has been no more loyal Trump supporting group. They volunteered to join Trump’s army. I’m interested in people who didn’t and won’t volunteer.
NotMax
@TBone
Don’t forget poltroon.
;)
Kay
@tobie:
Plaintiff’s lawyers win to get paid. I don’t know about naming Musk – it’s a good question- but it doesn’t matter. You can sue without naming him.
Professor Bigfoot
Quoted for TRUTH.
tobie
@Kay: I didn’t mean one has to name him. Fed employees who’ve been fired or transferred have standing to sue.
My question is: Who has standing to sue a private person accessing the Treasury’s payment system? Normally the DoJ prosecutes hacks but this hacking was done at the invitation of the President. So who has standing?
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
See the sad faces of the Utah firefighters as they watch the Republicans they all support and vote for strip them of employment rights.
I worked very hard against a state law in Ohio that banned collective bargaining for public employees. Firefighters and police joined us. We won – we saved their rights. They all immediately went back to supporting the pols who tried to take rights away. I’m done with them. They’re all gonna be making 15 bucks an hour and it will be their own fault. There are more vulnerable people who aren’t hard Right Republicans to help.
Gloria DryGarden
@TBone: some of us would like to bescumber that scobberlotcher…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@tobie: There’s this:
thejusticeconnection.org
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: It is their mutant ability. Even with a king-sized bed, two under-50-lb dogs can displace two normal-size hoomans.
tobie
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Thanks for this.
Geminid
@Another Scott: Yeah, it might be better to open basement windows in the Spring and Fall and keep them closed in Winter and Summer.
One way we can tell summers are humid is that wooden doors often stick in July and August. Sometimes rubbing a candle along the door frame and the edges of the door helps.
brantl
@Betty Cracker:
Rotating tagline, nominated!
brantl
@Betty Cracker: I do, frequently.
TBone
@Gloria DryGarden: BINGO
TBone
@NotMax: THANK YOU
WTFGhost
@bjacques: Yeah, but I’m fighting an ERISA battle, and that means I’m fucked. I learned the rules, and the time to fight was when I still had friends and family who could report on my experience. Now? I get to die. Fun times.
Sister Golden Bear
@TBone: I’m so sorry.
Kayla Rudbek
@MagdaInBlack: my web browsers are all acting up; will not load unless I turn Wi-Fi off and go to cellular data.
Kayla Rudbek
@Gloria DryGarden: I vote that we make her camp out in a Minnesota/Maine winter. She won’t last more than 24 hours
Kayla Rudbek
@Leto: if it were the Democrats doing this, you would be able to see the combustion of rage all the way to Mars
Kayla Rudbek
@Betty Cracker: me! And margarine as well, rye toast gets dry and hard. The breakfast issue between Mr. Rudbek and me is dry cereal; he will eat it with a spoon when the proper way to eat it dry is with your fingers.
TBone
@Sister Golden Bear: thank you sista, we are spending a lot of REAL quality time together. I will accept what comes to the best of my ability.
TBone
@Geminid: I’m glad I came back to check in here to be reminded to self care too…need MOAR!
satby
@Baud: Then no men, ever.
Might be a massive improvement.
Chris T.
@Betty Cracker:
Hah. Spousal Unit thinks it’s way too hot in the bedroom if it’s over 62F.