House Dems’ superPAC is going up with this ad on cable nationally.
youtu.be/7vqpeeq6Slk— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) January 31, 2025 at 5:17 PM
The Trump WH Occupation has elaborately upgraded its Press Secretary wetware figurehead…
She says at the end of the clip that fentanyl has killed "tens of millions of Americans." That number struck me as unlikely, so I went and looked up the CDC statistics.
Total combined drug overdose deaths from 2003 to 2023 were 1,174,835. That's over 20 years. https://t.co/W4Z3hsYpm5
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) January 31, 2025
… and I for one hope Our Major Media is very happy with the results to date:
The Pentagon has informed its resident press corps that NBC, NYT, NPR, and Politico will “rotate out of the building” to give space to New York Post, Breitbart, OANN, and HuffPost.
NBC, who has an entire booth w/ cameras etc. pic.twitter.com/OC4H3xyGdj
— Haley Britzky (@halbritz) February 1, 2025
For almost three years, Karine Jean-Pierre (@K_JeanPierre) spent every day working in one of the most public jobs in the world: White House press secretary. But as she did, she also silently worked a second full-time job: navigating her ailing mother’s care.
In an exclusive… pic.twitter.com/9MvDQOUwcI
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) January 21, 2025
Speaking of press secretaries, and the difference between the Democratic and Republican versions… Vanity Fair, “Karine Jean-Pierre, President Biden’s Barrier-Breaking Press Secretary, Reveals Some Truths About Her Job”:
The moment will forever be seared in my memory. It was December 1, 2022, at President and Dr. Biden’s France state dinner. That evening was the first time the administration felt a dinner was safe to host since the pandemic began. Every centerpiece seemed just a little bit brighter, every conversation a hair lighter. We were nearing the holidays, and the White House was adorned in sweeping ribbons and twinkling lights, making the night glow. My mom turned to me and said, “This is the happiest day of my life.”
She had never met President Biden, and never in her wildest dreams had she envisioned being at a White House state dinner, but I figured now was as good a time as any. All night long, my mom beamed—especially when she met the president, who was beyond gracious and welcoming to her. That evening was the last time I recognized my mother as the woman I grew up with. The immigrant who had worked hard her entire life. The woman who took over every room she was in, who was vibrant and forceful and stubborn and loving. In a matter of weeks, everything changed.
I was 4,000 miles from home when the text woke me up. My sister, Edwine, back in New York: “Mummy is sick. Call me.” I had flown into Poland the night before. Ukraine was months into war with Russia, and Biden had made a secret trip to Ukraine to visit Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Despite the historic nature of the trip, a crisis at home began to consume me. My mom had been complaining of abdominal pain for a while—I still kick myself for not paying more attention. When the pain ratcheted up, my brother took her to the nearest hospital, and eventually she was taken into surgery. Although my mom would refuse to acknowledge it for another eight months, the surgery confirmed a diagnosis: She had stage II colon cancer. My mother has always been a private person. When she finally acquiesced to reality, she told me: “Don’t tell anyone. Do not tell the president I have cancer.”
In this way, I take after my mom. For almost three years, I spent every day working in one of the most public jobs in the world: White House press secretary. My job was literally to represent the president of the United States of America. From behind the lectern in the briefing room, every day, I faced the press, the American people, and the world. And every day, I kept my personal life hidden. In fact, it won’t be until reading this that the people I have worked 16-hour days with, traveled across continents with, will learn that for almost two years, I have been silently working a second full-time job, which is navigating my mother’s care. It’s not just because I’m a private person that I withheld this information.
It’s also because I’m a first. I’m the first Black press secretary. The first person of color press secretary. The first openly queer press secretary. The first Haitian American immigrant press secretary. The first press secretary to be all of the above. Being a first meant that my responsibilities were beyond those in the job description, the load heavier. I bear a certain responsibility to the communities I represent…
Looking back now at the French state dinner, the signs of my mom’s decline were there. Shaky on her feet, she needed me to stabilize her. My mom spent decades of her life as a home health care aide and as the nucleus of our family, holding so many people up. Now she needed someone else to do the holding. President Biden was one of only a few people at the White House I ever told about my mom. Biden is a man who knows grief better than anyone should. He knows that grief doesn’t only occur when someone passes, but when someone changes, irrevocably, from the person you knew.
As I grieved the mom I knew, the president showed up for me. For more than 18 months, I drove up to New York every weekend I could to see my mom, often returning to DC late at night just to get a few hours of sleep before heading to the White House early the next morning (my days began with a 7:30 a.m. team call). She was in the hospital for three months. My brother visited her each morning, and my sister came on the days she could manage off from work. I did what I could from DC. My brother put me on the phone when the hospital was giving them the runaround. I demanded the names of specific doctors, told my siblings what phone numbers to track down for me so I could make calls myself. I never used my position to pull strings, but I did use my expertise, and I never stopped advocating for my mother.
Once treatment finally began, we had to change her health insurance plan four or five times so that she could get the care the doctors recommended. By the time we’d successfully get her onto a new plan, her care team would ask us why she hadn’t already started the treatment. At one point her rehab clinic tried to charge her for the wheelchair she came in with. I worked for President Obama; I am extremely proud of the Affordable Care Act. I was equally as proud to work with President Biden to lower the costs of prescription drugs and begin to tackle this country’s medical debt crisis. But our health care system is still too expensive, too hard to navigate, and too inaccessible…
Some people, on the other hand, ‘take no responsibility whatever’...
We keep getting reminders of how deeply Trump and his team are embedded in the right-wing bubble. The post-air-disaster press conference was a particularly acute example. Gift link: wapo.st/4gj9iRP
— Philip Bump (@pbump.com) January 31, 2025 at 2:46 PM
NotMax
Happy Groundhog Eve!
Long listen suitable as background music while puttering ’round the house.
Two Hours (!) grooving to the jazz age.
;)
different-church-lady
NBC, NYT, NPR, and Politico: “Gosh, I guess we’ll just have to lick his boots harder.”
different-church-lady
I’m starting to think maybe we should do that first cartoon panel unironically.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
No one talks about the planes that haven’t crashed. /Republican response
NotMax
@different-church-lady
Apparently Newsmax is too woke.
//
Nukular Biskits
Good morning you all from the treadmill
different-church-lady
@Baud: “THAT’S BECAUSE UNDER TRUMP THERE AREN’T ANY.”
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
Good morning.
different-church-lady
@NotMax: Who was the despot who said something to the effect that the first thing you want to do is seize the radio stations?
Baud
@different-church-lady:
”10 millions planes have crashed under Trump!!!” /How it’s done.
different-church-lady
@Baud: “Now, that number seems off, let me check the statis– woah, look at that…”
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Part of me has a lot of sympathy For folks who want to tell outrageous lies About trump and his cronies.
Also I hate voice to text
Ten Bears
I thought pantsuits were gauche`? East Coast Elite
I’ve wanted to comment on those hams, but I won’t …
NotMax
@different-church-lady
“As God is my witness I thought airplanes could fly.”
– the new WKRP
//
different-church-lady
@Nukular Biskits: Voice to text is very useful for things when you don’t give a shit about them.
different-church-lady
@NotMax: Yup, you get one of my rare LOL exceptions…
Nukular Biskits
@different-church-lady: LOHello That’s what I get for trying to do too much multitasking
New Deal democrat
A few items of interest on tariffs etc…
The Tax Policy Center has calculated that the tariffs T—-p just announced will cost consumers’ income by an average of $800 a year, or about 1%:
https://taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/25-percent-tariff-canadian-and-mexican-imports-would-reduce-consumers-average-after-tax
Yesterday there was a little excitement about the stock market making a *1%* decline from its record high set last week. These 1% declines happen every few months. In fact there is typically at least one 5% decline each year, which gets Wall Street nervous, and has them sending out signals to the Fed to please ease. It gets serious once there is a 10% decline – that’s when the panicking hits. In other words, don’t expect anything out of Washington until at least the 5% downside target is hit. And because the adults are gone, the flailing in D.C. may make things worse.
I have mentioned a couple of times before that T—-p got lucky in 2017 by inheriting a strong economy, that he wasn’t able to ruin because it took him most of his term to learn where the levers were. But I didn’t think he would be so lucky this time, especially since this time he is surrounded by bootlickers rather than competent business professionals. In that regard, something called the “Business Dynamics Survey” just dropped on Wednesday. It comes out with a big delay – this week’s report was for Q2 of last year – but is much more comprehensive than the monthly jobs report. And it showed a *loss* of 163,000 jobs that quarter.
In this coming Friday’s jobs report there will be “benchmark revisions” to all of last year’s data, and almost everyone is expecting downward revisions.
Such fun!
P.S. For those who want to access any of the CDC data that was deleted, Charles GABA downloaded and copied all of it. Here’s a link:
https://bsky.app/profile/charlesgaba.com/post/3lh3frjo6pc2o
NotMax
@Nukular Biskits
Did someone say Hello?
:)
comrade scotts agenda of rage
The “rotate out of the building” is delicious.
It’s a wake up call to those groups, one that they’ll probably sleep thru.
p.a.
What is happening to the magnets keeping planes aloft? What about those drones!?!?!?…
different-church-lady
@Nukular Biskits: I have a little true story about the hazards of voice to text.
I never text and drive, and seldom dictate into the phone. But one day I was running late and needed to tell the supervisor. So I got to a red light, picked up the phone, and started speaking. Just as I finished the light turned green, so I put the phone down just before I could hit send and started driving again.
As we’re going along, some idiot cuts me off and I express my displeasure out loud. (You can see where this is going.) At the next light I pick the phone back up.
Now, I’m done dictating, so all I have to do is hit send. Which I’m about to do, with my finger about a millimeter away from the screen when I see that the phone has continued transcribing the whole time and the text now reads…
I was about three atoms away from actually sending that to the boss!
Kay
@New Deal democrat:
Land values are definitely dropping here. They were inflated, so it’s more of a “correction” but everyone is talking about it as a sign of a downturn. I don’t think Trump’s going to have Biden’s cooking economy long.
different-church-lady
@New Deal democrat:
CORPORATIONS: “If consumers are expecting 1% we can probably squeeze them for 4 or 5 before they blame us instead of Democrats.”
different-church-lady
@Kay:
It’s kind of like not having a Rembrandt very long if you take a knife to it.
Nukular Biskits
I am truly inspired by Karine Jean-Pierre and I so empathize with her.
I’ll write about this later but we went through something similar with Momma … and it sure as hell wasn’t easy for us three siblings.
prostratedragon
@NotMax:
That could come in handy in the centuries ahead. Also, Black History Month begins today:
“Louisiana Blues Strut,” Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson; Randall Goosby
oldgold
What is almost amusing about this FBI purge, but definitely is not, is that the FBI from its inception to the present has been a conservative enclave.
There has not been one Director of the FBI that was a Democrat.
NotMax
@Kay
The Great
BritishShitish Baking Show.frosty
@different-church-lady: I had to read that out loud to Ms F. We’re both laughing. Thank FSM for three atom’s distance!
ETA My favorite text mishap was back before smartphones when you used T19 to convert numbers to letters. I thought I texted Ms F “I’m leaving for home now”. What she received was “I’m leaving for good now.”
Same numbers for both words. Read before sending!
Kay
We tried to tell people that living in a blue state wasn’t protection and no one would be safe from far Right state laws, but we were called hysterical and ignored.
The plan of the religious Right is to force their beliefs on everyone.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
All references to which has been ordered scrubbed from federal government sites.
MomSense
@New Deal democrat:
They will cost us more in Maine because we do a lot of business with Canada.
Another Scott
‘morning everyone.
Meanwhile, DW.com – Tough immigration restrictions backed by ruling party and AfD rejected in German parliament.
Merz said he would not work with AfD but he needed their votes on this contentious bill.
AfD is polling second at the moment.
Here’s hoping the good people of Germany find a way to keep a steady course and keep the proto-fascists out of power. Everyone, everywhere, needs to stand up for pluralistic, sensible, democratic government however they can.
“… all enemies, foreign and domestic …”
Best wishes,
Scott.
Kay
@oldgold:
It is funny, right? All these dopes who thought Republicans were their buddies.
I have a lot of sympathy for federal employees who have not been aligned with the GOP, but the FBI? They’re out and proud wingnuts at this point. I wish them the best of luck.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: I know. It was observed for nearly a century by Black people before making it into the federal calendar though. We’ll keep it safe.
NotMax
@oldgold
The precursor of which was founded by a grandnephew of Napoleon.
oldgold
@Kay: !
Captain C
@different-church-lady: Baud, when you’re President, please ban the FTFNYT from all government facilities and tell them (truthfully) it’s because they suck. It’s not so much that they’re as bad as peak Pravda* was (Fox is too, but they don’t really pretend otherwise), it’s that they pretend that they’re the True Arbiter of Truth or something, when they’re just failson Pinch the Lesser’s propaganda vehicle and grievance bullhorn.
*To be fair, they do some excellent and deep reporting, but they bury it on page A17 with a misleading headline and then put contradictory “analysis” in big headlines on the front page and in the op-ed section
(eta: yes, I know the comment was d-c-l’s, but AFAIK she’s not running for President)
SiubhanDuinne
Re the Joel Pett cartoon: The coffee mug, with its changing call letters, is a nice touch. Ever so subtle, but clever.
sentient ai from the future
well this is nice.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4050331/identity-months-dead-at-dod/
also, purging the civil service, AS IS BEING DONE THIS MINUTE, was also part of the Orban playbook.
lollipopguild
@different-church-lady: But Boss, let me EXPLAIN………!
zhena gogolia
zhena gogolia
@sentient ai from the future: And demonizing LGBTQ+ was part of the Putin playbook.
frosty
@NotMax: From Wikipedia: “He was also a long-time activist for the rights of black residents of his native city of Baltimore.”
Doesn’t sound like today’s FBI!
oldgold
@Kay: When I started practicing law the senior partner was an old FBI agent and proud of it. As a consequence, out in the lobby there was a big bust of J. Edgar Hoover prominently displayed.
As time went by I rose through the ranks. Finally, on the day I became the senior partner, the bust was removed and later, like Musk’s rocket, was disassembled by me.
tobie
@Another Scott: AfD will come in second. The only question is whether a coalition govt can be formed without them. The expectation was for a CDU / Green coalition or a grand coalition CDU/SPD that wouldn’t get anything done but would hold the AfD at bay for the time being. Merz crossed a line in trying to get an anti-immigration bill passed with AfD support. Angela Merkel took the unusual step of criticizing him publicly for this. I don’t know what the electoral fall-out of this will be. Does it hurt the CDU? Strengthen the SPD? Legitimize the AfD? There were protests against the CDU & AfD throughout Germany this past week. I will check polls over the weekend. Grrr… Democracy is on the ballot everywhere.
Jackie
Another chickenshit firing via email.
Nukular Biskits
@NotMax:
Is that you, Lionel Richie?
AM in NC
@New Deal democrat: TRUMP TARIFF TAX. Every time anyone on our side refers to the tariffs it should ALWAYS be “Trump’s Tariff Tax on Americans” TRUMP’S TARIFF TAX.
I’d include all three words to inextricably link Trump and Tariff to TAX. And include “on Americans” or “against America” to drive the harms home.
different-church-lady
@Captain C: AFAYK…
different-church-lady
@zhena gogolia: All of these are just variations on the Hitler game plan.
RaflW
I will never forgive the US press for being bored by Biden.
Meanwhile, I expect no one at the NYT to learn anything from a decade of fellating Trump, yet getting expelled from the Pentagon press room anyway.
Percysowner
Unsurprisingly, the Republican support for successful businesses is conditional. Ohio’s top cop wants Costco to bag its DEI policies. A Democratic state senator is pushing back Yep, David Yost has told Costco to get rid of all DEI “or else”. Not sure what or else could include, but I guess we are going to find out.
Miss Bianca
@Jackie: And another allegedly caring federal employee announcing, “Hey, my term isn’t up yet but I’ll leave if Trump asks me to!”…gets fired.
I get it, why would you want to stay working under this Administration, but the level of pre-surrendering I’m seeing all across the board is making me feel very low indeed.
TS
@zhena gogolia:
So are the other states happy to be defunded – or are they still thinking “He doesn’t really mean that?”
prostratedragon
For those who can stand it, JMarshall recommends this WaPo profie of someone named Ed Martin who, as interim US Attorney for DC, has fired 30 prosecutors from that office (archived version).
rikyrah
@Kay:
Hey Kay.
You are going to Europe to visit your son and his family. You said you were renting an apartment. You staying that long that an apartment makes sense?🤔
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
prostratedragon
@Percysowner: How does he propose to know when they have done this?
rikyrah
@Miss Bianca:
The entire….
Not making them fire you is very disappointing.
They would have to fire me.
rikyrah
@RaflW:
They won’t learn anything. They are beyond help😠
different-church-lady
@prostratedragon: When there are no more minority employees, probably.
Melancholy Jaques
@oldgold:
That’s putting it mildly.
different-church-lady
@rikyrah: Hell, they might have to arrest me.
rikyrah
I feel bad to say this, but if Canada shuts off the power to the US States, I will not blame them.😒
Soprano2
@Kay: I wonder how many will be purged from the New York field office? /s Would love to see the social media and emails of some of those agents.
different-church-lady
@rikyrah: Hey, it’s not like it’s winter here in the Northeast or anything…
NotMax
Can find (on an admittedly quick search) only audio of Ali Velshi’s barely contained fury yesterday. if you didn’t see it at the time, well worth the listen.
Percysowner
@different-church-lady: Got it in one, I suspect. Also Costco has been very vocal that their DEI policies will stay in place, so he may require a mea culpa, just in case. I don’t think Costco will do it, because they have been pretty clear that DEI is good for business.
Fair Economist
Trump being in the right wing bubble is a major part of the problem. All these oligarchs are falling into the nonsense bubble they blew for everybody else, and their actions are getting increasingly deranged.
Of course in Trump’s case their seems to be some dementia involved like yesterday when he ordered that a lot of farmers’ water in far Northern California be dumped into the Pacific, creating a destructive flood*, under some strange delusion that that would prevent fires in LA, 600 miles and 2 drainage basins away.
* Which was averted because the federal employees involved partially disobeyed the order.
prostratedragon
@different-church-lady: Time they said it straight out. Of course, it’s inconcievable(*) to them that a Black person could be the merit choice for a job.
(*) Pace, Iñigo.
Fair Economist
@tobie: What concerns me about the German immigration bill controversy is that there is pretty overwhelming support in Germany for tougher immigration laws. If the other parties won’t allow anything, that will probably increase AfD’s vote share.
Princess
@New Deal democrat: “The Tax Policy Center has calculated that the tariffs T—-p just announced will cost consumers’ income by an average of $800 a year, or about 1%”
Cost to consumer is (as you know) only one part of what the price of these tariffs will be. Add the damage to US business because of the counter tariffs. Then add the more incalculable price of business uncertainty and cautiousness in the face of an unstable cross-border tax environment. The benefit of the free trade deals is they offer businesses predictability and security. Trump just ripped that up; ripped up his own deal.
TBone
The Karinne story brought back memories of my own mother, suffering in the middle of raging dementia, shouting at the top of her lungs at the TV after seeing a chyron with “President” in front of the wrong guy’s name “THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!”
I am so verklempt, trying not to cry today for any reason in front of Noah but now I am going outside to let ‘er rip where he can’t see me. We’ve been watching Paulette Goddard and Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator (again, and seeing new things every time I watch it is such a joy), laying in bed snuggling together. Thank GOD for TCM and 31 Days of Oscar!
TBone
@TBone: I must’ve needed help crying it out today. It feels so fucking good.
Bupalos
I’m glad we’re up with an oppositional ad, It’s still a little mousey in narrative terms, the way it uses the word steal but spends no focus on just who is doing the stealing. “Chaos” and “confusion” aren’t where an emotional connection happens with theft.
More focus on the billionaires as predators trying to hoard and enslave. A deliberate plan targeting you. We have to tap into fear and anger if we want to really connect politically. The Trumpists are a lot better at this worldbuilding.
Citizen Dave
@Percysowner: We’re a huge Costco couple, as far as spending dollars there. I really hope Costco’s response to Ohio’s “top cop” is “Fuck You. How about that? Is that good enough for you. Fuck You”
Geminid
There was some good news out of the Middle East today. At least 50 medical patients crossed from Gaza to Egypt through the recently reopened Rafah Crossing, the first such transfer since May of last year.
Also, Hamas released three more Israeli hostages and in exchange, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners. Ofer Calderon, one of the three hostages, had an especially touching reunion with his family:
TBone
@NotMax: thank you again and again and again
TBone
@Baud: I luv you, but especially right now because my tears have, once again, turned to murderous rage and the only acceptable murder in this house is murder PAWS. Giggling is SO much better.
ETA to add DifferentChurchLady too
Citizen Dave
@rikyrah: The Eastern Interconnection grid is basically everything east of the Rockies (except not most of Texas) to the east, in Canada and the U.S. Neither country can “shut down” the power without serious consequences on both sides. But it does bring up the interesting question of whether and how Trump’s tariff/tax applies to the huge amounts of Canadian hydropower purchases by some U.S utilities.
I’d say the 25% adder is passed along to our utilities and customers. But wait, that seems in opposition to trump’s promise to reduce electricity costs by 50% in one year…
TBone
@Geminid: awwwwww
TBone
@NotMax: LOL!!!
*shakes finger knowingly
“You people!” Alla youse guys are saving my life today!
HELLO HELLO
Citizen Alan
@Kay: there is a part of me that hopes that the FBI gets so bad during the trump regime that once it’s finally over we abolish that agency and start over completely. It would be a fitting punishment for james comey, who claimed that his actions on the eve of the 2016 election were intended in part to protect the reputation of the FBI.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
pajaro
@Kay:
Kay, I know you would want to know that the Governor of New York, who is not exactly a flaming liberal, to put it mildly, has stated that she will absolutely refuse a request for extradition if it is made by Louisiana. Blue state governors have been pretty vocal so far, and they haven’t been shy about going to court.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Fair Economist:
What about the protests that tobie mentioned?
frosty
@Jackie: @Miss Bianca: I’m wondering: do they lose their pensions if they’re fired? It would explain why the senior staff are resigning.
If not, they have no excuse for not staying and throwing sand in the gears.
Miss Bianca
@Citizen Alan: I’m thinking we ought to start spreading the meme, “Hey, look – the Republicans are Defunding the Police!”
@frosty: that could be a factor, of course.
Kelly
@Fair Economist: If I understand the geography correctly the water dumped yesterday will end up in Lake Tulare which hasn’t been connected to the sea for a long time
Ju
@Citizen Alan:
james comey, who claimed that his actions on the eve of the 2016 election were intended in part to protect the reputation of the FBI.
That was all a big flaming pile of hooey. He wanted to kneecap Hilary Clinton if/when she became president. He is to blame for so much of what we went through and what we are going through now. In his wife’s place, I would have divorced him. He is a worthless pos.
Soprano2
To be clear, I feel badly for anyone who is losing their job just because they did tasks that were assigned to them, but only if they didn’t vote for FFOTUS. If they did, well they got what they voted for and I don’t feel badly for them at all.
catclub
Yep, fugitive fetus law is a thing.
catclub
Instead of shutting his mouth ( in both october and June) and doing his job.
catclub
Because the Republicans are the criminals.
Likewise for the IRS. FAA, SEC…. etc etc
Sister Golden Bear
And the trans erasure continues, as the Social Security Administration stops any changes to sex identification markers in an “emergency” change that was issued on Friday and went into effect “immediately.”
I’ll note that besides the inherent cruelty in itself, SSA sex markers are cross-referenced by a variety of other federal and state agencies issuing IDs. E.g. when I transitioned, I had to wait a couple days for the SSA change to my sex marker to get synched with the CA DMV before getting my drivers’ license changed, so that it didn’t get flagged as a mismatch.
catclub
Kittens have murder mittens.
Betty
@Nukular Biskits: What a terrible system when you need a nearly full time advocate first with the care providers and then with the insurance companies. The family was lucky to have Karine, as was Joe.
Betty
@Miss Bianca: That will go over big with customers. Mess with their Costco? Dumb.
ETA: slip of the fingers. This is a reply to Percysowner. Sorry, Miss Bianca.
Betty
@Soprano2: They helped get him elected in 2016. It would be very surprising if he went after them.