At least 6 prosecutors have resigned rather than dismiss the case against Adams.
Huge news but I’m on my iPad and WordPress sucks so link in comments:
Kevin Drum
Kevin posted this update on his blog yesterday:
Fading fast. Pneumonia worse. Ventilator next. Not looking good. Take care of Donald Trump for me.
Kevin has been fighting multiple myeloma for the past decade, and he also had prostate cancer. In true Kevin fashion, he put up charts to track the levels of his m-protien and PSA.
I haven’t always agreed with him, but I’ve been a reader of his for so many years that I can’t remember when I didn’t read his stuff. No matter what you think of his work, he always tried to base his posts in facts and data. His writing on lead poisoning brought attention to an important issue at a key time.
After he was diagnosed, he took a lot of trips and documented them. He’s a good photographer. He also inspired me to not wait until after retirement to travel, since he’s just a little older than me, and proof that you can’t take your health for granted.
Thinking about him today. I hope he pulls through.
(hat tip to Cheryl at LGM for reminding me about this update.)
Muskrat Chronicles
The clip from Greg Casar that Betty posted yesterday, where he pointed out that Musk makes $8 million a day when a senior on Social Security gets $65/day is great. I want to keep going down that road.
First, Elon has a $400 million deal to sell “armored” (lol) Teslas (perhaps IncelCaminos?) to the State Department. That’s not wasteful. The State Department removed “Tesla” from the contract announcement after the news got out, by the way.
That deal is in addition to the “at least” $18 billion that Musk’s SpaceX has received from government contracts, $3.7 billion of which was for fiscal year 2024.
I don’t know how we’re going to rid ourselves of this nazi foreign influencer, but tanking his meme stock sure wouldn’t hurt. A Tesla boycott, along with 100% tariffs on Teslas in Canada, Mexico and the EU would be one fine way to hit them. Another is picketing Tesla showrooms, which TeslaTakedown.com is trying to organize. (Yes, that’s Bill from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.). The WankPanzer is a piece of shit and laughingstock already, even before Elon sieg heil’d.
Edit: So much going on that I forgot that Elon got rid of the CFPB just as he’s going to launch his new payment platform.
Elon Musk is developing a new payment platform called “X Money.”
Guess which agency would be making sure that Elon’s new project couldn’t scam you or steal your sensitive personal data? The CFPB.
— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) February 13, 2025 at 8:44 AM
A Turd Was Revealed In All Its Stinky Glory
The Republican budget is a document that worships tax-cut Jesus while cutting programs for the dirty poors:
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans released a budget plan Wednesday that sets the stage for advancing many of President Donald Trump’s top domestic priorities, providing for up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit so the U.S. can continue financing its bills.
The budget plan also directs a variety of House committees to cut spending by at least $1.5 trillion while stating that the goal is to reduce spending by $2 trillion over 10 years.
Budget resolutions are often considered statements of priorities. But the 45-page plan is more than just a policy blueprint as it provides specific directions to House committees to rearrange the federal money flow. GOP leaders are eyeing cuts to social services, and particularly Medicaid, as they seek massive savings.
CAP, where the graph above came from:
To finance these regressive tax cuts, Senate Republicans are considering additional enormous cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, student-loan programs, clean energy investments, and other programs Americans rely on in a second reconciliation bill later in the year. The House Republican plan includes these tax cuts and spending cuts in the budget resolution they released today. In each case, congressional Republicans are seeking to take away food and health care to help offset some of the cost of extending tax cuts that disproportionately go to the richest Americans.
Democrats have power and leverage here, if we have the will to use it. Josh Marshall (gift link):
Today, they formalized their decision to go with one bill. That bill includes extending the tax cuts as well as those massive spending cuts and — this is critical — a debt-ceiling hike for about two years. It is a big, big question whether they can pull this off. They are essentially caught between the Freedom Caucus, which wants even bigger cuts on the one hand, and basically anyone who wants to run next year in any kind of competitive state or district. Then there’s the debt-ceiling hike, which Republicans never want to vote for.
This amounts to a big, big all-or-nothing gamble. If they can do it it’s a big win and they rob Democrats of any debt-ceiling leverage. If they fail, the whole train breaks down in a really embarrassing and politically consequential way.
But there are two key points to note. The immediate leverage for Democrats comes next month when Republicans need to pass a new continuing resolution to prevent a shutdown. Indeed, the other option was to pile a lot of this in with a continuing resolution. Not taking that route makes clear they thought Democrats’ price would be one Trump wouldn’t accept. So this leaves the Democrats’ main near-term leverage intact. If they do pull this off, it will be with budget cuts which will be both devastating on every front but also a bill which Democrats will be eager to run on in 2026.
Will Democrats use their leverage next month? I don’t know.
A Turd Was Revealed In All Its Stinky GloryPost + Comments (138)
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Mood Not Yet Indigo
It's not yet been a month, folks!
— Chatham Harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) February 10, 2025 at 8:53 AM
I mean, they’re finally covering the actual story: “dictator on Day One”
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) February 10, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Well, look at this: After Biden slayed inflation, Trump brings it back, along with "eggflation," after the Times gives him slack this morning. The #BrokenTimes, #BrokenPost, and #MurdochJournal says it's unexpected. Not if you're paying attention, it isn't.
— Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis (@jeffjarvis.bsky.social) February 12, 2025 at 10:32 AM
But *also*…
“Colorful” as in “insane”.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) February 12, 2025 at 5:06 PM
If the US agrees to become our 11th province, we'll offer them many exciting benefits—including free Bhangra lessons for every US citizen, delivered with our signature Canadian politeness, warmth and welcoming spirit.
— Gurdeep Pandher of the Yukon (@gurdeep.ca) February 8, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Mood Not Yet IndigoPost + Comments (199)
Late Night Open Thread: Learning About Resistance From the Experts, Black History Edition
Gaming Out Going Head to Head with the Trumpist Scourge talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/gamin…
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Wise words from Josh Marshall:
… Where is the resistance? Why is it so muted when it was so hot out of the gate several years ago? First I would say that as a friend of mine noted to me a few weeks ago, it was always the ordinary, normie organizing in groups and clubs in towns and counties around the country that really hobbled President Trump far more than the marches and protests and performative resistance, though those also played a very key and salutary role. (I want to be clear: I’m not deriding those efforts. They played a key role. But it was more secondary than it often seemed.) Second, while it hasn’t yet percolated up to DC journalists, something very dramatic started happening among rank and file Democrats roughly two weeks ago. It only started registering with elected Democrats in DC mid-last-week.
… It’s wrong to say that people voted for every last thing that is happening now or whatever he happened to say at one point or another on the campaign trail. That’s not how voting works. At least a quarter of the electorate votes with only the vaguest sense of what each candidate is proposing. But it is certainly true that almost everyone had a general sense of what kind of person Trump was and what kind of president he’d be. He’d already been president, after all. What’s more, the entire campaign had been run with the clear understanding that Trump winning was a very real possibility. So people couldn’t vote for him thinking it was a throwaway vote with no consequence. He didn’t just slip through. It was a very close election. But he won a plurality if not a majority of the vote and he reclaimed the industrial midwest.
This led not only to a profound demoralization that Democrats are only now emerging from. It also made his presidency seem far less fragile than it had seemed when it was perceived as (and to some degree was) an accident eight years ago. The logic of mass demonstrations and other kinds of performative resistance just doesn’t play the same way. People are also in the midst, very much the targets of, a far-ranging shock and awe campaign from which they are only now after a couple weeks recovering their wits. So some of the difference people are noting isn’t just demoralization or giving up. It’s a rational response to a different set of circumstances. A few big hits won’t end this. This is for the long haul.
There are various things about the Trump I resistance that now seem dated, ephemeral or even cringe. But things evolve. We can look back at those things and learn from the excesses and areas of wasted energy… The situation is different so it calls for different tools and strategies. There’s nothing wrong with that. Some of the Democratic torpor of the first weeks of the second Trump presidency is just what it seems like: demoralization, some people wanting to simply check out. But it is also (and I expect increasingly so over time) an accurate perception that everyone is now in this for the long haul. None of this will be quickly shortcircuited and endurance and canniness are as important as aggression or display.
I’ve been saving this thread for the right moment:
What y'all have to understand is what we were taught about the Civil Rights Movement was distorted and wrong.
It was not a sudden uprising of marches and actions, resulting in quick change.
It was a carefully built machine, with test cases, trials, and planning. Extensive, intensive planning and— Mapsandkeys, same as the other place (@mapsandkeys.bsky.social) February 8, 2025 at 11:09 PM
training. Leaders weren’t magical negroes, born fully equipped to battle racism. They were cultivated, educated, and hardened to withstand fire hoses, dogs, and violence, and to use their voices with careful force.
It was disciplined work, plain and simple, not impulse and scattershot fury.
It was not quick. Whether you take voting rights, desegregation, or something else as your starting point, the Civil Rights Movement began the second slaves were freed. It took one hundred years to coalesce into the movement we studied, however briefly, in school.
Think about that as you call for change.
When you tell other people to engage in civil disobedience, recognize that that isn’t a casual act, especially when you have the audacity to call on Black leaders to engage in it.
Think hard about whether you’re willing to put your own body on the line before you ask someone else to.
War for Ukraine Day 1,084: The New US Policy Is Ukraine Without Ukraine
Trump and Hegseth have had quite the time today.
REPORTER: Do you view Ukraine as an equal member of this peace process?
TRUMP: Ummmm … it’s an interesting question. I think they have to make peace. That was not a good war to go into.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 12, 2025 at 4:35 PM
“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome for a negotiated settlement.”- Hegseth said.
He also added that Ukraine will not return to the 1991 borders
In Ukraine right now, it feels as though we are being plunged into an abyss without any safety net
— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) February 12, 2025 at 9:35 AM
REPORTER: Do you future in which Ukraine returns to its pre-2014 borders?
TRUMP: It certainly would seem to be unlikely. They took a lot of land and they fought for that land.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Europe didn’t fare much better.
If this is a direct quote, it’s one of the most irresponsible and reckless things a SECDEF has ever said
— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) February 12, 2025 at 3:42 PM
From The Guardian:
Donald Trump’s newly appointed defence secretary told allies on his first international trip that the US was no longer “primarily focused” on European security and that Europe would have to take the lead in defending Ukraine.
Pete Hegseth, speaking to defence ministers at a lunchtime meeting in Brussels, said Europe had to provide “the overwhelming share” of future military aid to Kyiv – and recognise that restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic.
The Pentagon chief said he was “here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe”, though the language was notably toned down from a draft briefed in advance to the press.
That had said the US was no longer “the primary guarantor of security in Europe” and appeared to suggest a recasting of the 75-year-old Nato alliance, created after the second world war to protect western Europe from the Soviet bloc.
But in a speech to the Ukraine contact group of defence ministers in Brussels, chaired by the UK’s defence secretary, John Healey, he softened the language – a day before he is due to attend his first Nato summit of defence ministers.
Hegseth said the US was shifting its military priorities to defending its homeland and deterring China, and he called on European Nato members to hike defence budgets to 5% of GDP to better defend the continent.
As an example, Hegseth said Europe “must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine” in the future – though he did not say the US would halt all its military aid, which has been critical in helping Kyiv resist the Russian invasion.
He also reiterated Trump’s position that “stopping the fighting and reaching an enduring peace” in Ukraine is a top priority – and that Kyiv must recognise that it cannot win back all the land occupied by Russia.
“We must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” Hegseth said, sketching out an initial position for any peace negotiations with Russia.
“Chasing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” he added, though this could be interpreted as effectively acknowledging the annexation of Crimea, and large parts of the Donbas by Russia.
Kyiv would only achieve peace through “robust security guarantees”, but Hegseth ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine. Instead, peace would have to be secured by “capable European and non-European troops”, who he stressed would not come from the US.
Any British or European troops who did end up deployed in Ukraine would not be covered by part of a Nato mission or covered by the alliance’s article 5 guarantee, Hegseth added, meaning they would in effect be reliant on help from participating states.
Though Hegseth set out some positions for achieving peace in Ukraine, few experts believe there has been any serious diplomatic progress. Russia, which has been gaining ground on the battlefield, remains keen to press home its advantage and has demanded that Ukraine cede further territory and effectively be demilitarised as part of a deal.
More at the link.
The Weimar+ group – Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the European External Action Service and the European Commission – issued a statement in response to all of Trump and Hegseth’s statements and remarks today:
12 of February 2025 – Paris
We are ready to enhance our support for Ukraine. We commit to its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s war of aggression.
We share the goal to keep supporting Ukraine until a just, comprehensive and lasting peace is reached. A peace that guarantees the interest of Ukraine and our own.
We are looking forward to discussing the way ahead together with our American allies. Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations. Ukraine should be provided with strong security guarantees. A just and lasting peace in Ukraine is a necessary condition for a strong transatlantic security.
We recall that the security of the European continent is our common responsibility. We are therefore working together to strengthen our collective defense capabilities.
The problem with all these statements is that everyone other than Trump and Hegseth know that not only is Putin playing Trump, but that regardless of what they may thing, the Ukrainians actually have agency. They aren’t going to stop just because Trump or Hegseth tell them to. And Putin isn’t going to stop either, which is why we’re able to watch him wage his low intensity campaign against the EU and NATO member states in real time. It’s why the sabotage, the cable cutting, the attempts to blow up a passenger airliner, and the attempted and actual wetwork continues. And it will continue until someone actually steps up and stops Putin and Russia.
Threatening allies with territorial annexations and extorting partners while caving to Russia’s demands isn’t a display of toughness or masterful leadership. Waiting for a so-called tough leader to speak and act as strongly against Putin and Xi as he does against partners and allies
— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) February 12, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Had call with Trump. Apparently “The Art of the Deal” is to give me everything I want.
— Darth Putin (@darthputinkgb.bsky.social) February 12, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
War for Ukraine Day 1,084: The New US Policy Is Ukraine Without UkrainePost + Comments (109)