Spmeone hacked TV's at HUD with some really interesting AI graphics. Consider this your trigger warning

The latest MUSK/DOGE emails seems to he going sideways. Some judges received it and maybe some politicians (I can't confirm the last part but Tina Smith wrote something about Musk not being the boss of her while calling it a Dick Boss Move)

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/new-doge-musk-email-goes-seriously-sideways

"We’ve got a fascinating story unfolding with the new Musk email I reported on below. And yes, something can be fascinating while also being grave, dangerous and in its own way terrifying. Over the course of the evening top leadership at the FBI, the State Department, the VA, the Department of the Navy (to its civilian employees) and other parts of the government have explicitly instructed employees in their departments and agencies to ignore the email. Meanwhile the DOJ seems to be instructing its employees to follow it. (And yes, FBI is sort of under DOJ and that’s kind of weird but that’s where we are.)

It’s important to note that these emails are authorized or allowed if not directed by the President of the United States. And yet whole wings of the government are saying to ignore it. I mentioned to someone this evening that they’re treating a presidentially authorized email as some kind of insider threat. And this person says, we’re surprised that Trump is an insider threat? To which I said, yes, I’m surprised that his own appointees are doing so.

This is all a bit comical and also manages to be a certain degree of state disintegration we’re watching in real time. But it also seems clear that Musk has gotten a bit over his skis finally. We’ve been in this world of upside where a lone wolf is on a wilding spree through the federal government, clearly not operating at anyone’s direction but his own. And yet the President is at least okaying it all after the fact. And thus our system can’t really make sense of what’s happening. Yes, it’s almost all illegal even or in a sense especially if the President is authorizing it. But it’s also pretty clear that the elected President is in the backseat of this car if he’s in the car at all.

But here you have seemingly the first time where his own appointees are pushing back and in a fairly public way.

This will get weirder."

Your beloved contrarian is addicted to trolling as Musk is addicted to Ketamine.

Harris lost most of her votes in blue states.

She lost nearly 1.9 million votes in California and about 700K in New York, another 400K in NJ.

She still won all these states pretty easily. NJ was the closest and it was still nearly 52 percent for her.

In CA, Democrats managed to flip three House seats R to D despite shedding 1.9 million votes from Biden to Harris.

It seems to be more parochial-municipal issues being turned into ire at national Democrats and not DEI.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/us/politics/federal-worker-firings-trump-ruling.html

Lawyer brain will be the death of us all:

"Still, he said, “federal district judges are duty-bound to decide legal issues based on even-handed application of law and precedent — no matter the identity of the litigants or, regrettably at times, the consequences of their rulings for average people.”

Judge Cooper said that he was denying the unions’ request that he block the Trump administration from continuing its downsizing efforts because the matter should be first addressed with the agency that adjudicates labor disputes between federal employee unions and management, known as the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

Judge Cooper noted that if the unions lose in that venue, they could resume their court battle through the federal court of appeals."

So Trump's neat trick here is to illegally destroy the ability of the admin bodies to hold hearings on his mass firings and then get goo goo dumb dumb judges who express sympathy and concern but state it is very important for procedure to be followed, rule of law and all that.

I'll be blunt.

1. I think 70-80 percent of the reason Harris did not win was the general inflation/throw the bums out trend that swept elections all over the world. Occam's razor and all that.

1a. The rest was death by a thousand cuts and I think Israel/Palestine was more of a reason than DEI and I think Israel/Palestine was barely one of the cuts.

2. Even given that, she lost very narrowly given only months to campaign and received more votes than Biden in four swing states: NC, GA, NV, and one more than I am forgetting.

2a. Trump won those states but his super-power is always getting low-propensity Herrenvolkists out who vote for him and often only him. Hence, the fact that he was only able to flip one swing state Senate race (PA). OH, MT, and WV are red states.

3. To the extent, people are saying DEI caused them to vote for Trump, they are still doing the innuendo version of "No snowball chance in hell you are getting me to vote for the Black-Indian Lady...."

4. I think very online people talking about DEI being bad are a select group of cranky middle-aged white guys who hate that a black woman made them feel uncomfortable and potentially contemplate things that they preferred not to contemplate. Or some guys seem to act like DEI means that one day their daughter is going to stop being Daddy's Little Girl suddenly and come home with a girlfriend with a shaved head and combat fatigues and say "Sorry Daddy but DEI taught me that the revolution is here and you have to be put up against the wall. Suzy here is going to pull the trigger."

Basically, it is a bunch of people with an ax to grind and using this as an opportunity, also why did Biden have to appoint all those non-white people like Julie Su and Lina Khan, can't we just go back to the Clinton 90s when all these pesky social issues were kept on the table please? Instead of American citizens, we should think of ourselves as employees for America, Inc, completely dedicated to increasing the GDP/Quarterly profits. I, Very Serious Pundit Man, will act as HR cheerleader. Everything else is just a distraction against the goal of America, Inc."

Yes, some DEI stuff is the closest thing liberals have to the right-wing wingnut circuit but people have a moral responsibility to think with straight heads and if Musk is out there talking about how we need pain/great depression to bring about his third-rate Shadowrun/Curtis Yarvin fantasy and Trump is talking about mass deportations, a person has a responsibility to take this seriously and literally. I'm not going to let people off the hook if there response to this is "Yeah,but I had to go listen to a lecture on implicit bias and structural racism..."

Well, I don't know what to say to these people but it sure as hell looks like Musk wants a deep, deep recession or worse.

The fact that no one seems to have a sense of perspective in worrisome.

Does everyone else see what is going on in the United States right now? And we are saying "Well, Democrats have a DEI problem."

F###ing Flying Spaghetti Monster

Musk is apparently high as a kite at CPAC while waving around a chainsaw and Grimes is begging online for his attention because one of their three kids is in medical crisis.

Hochul is not going to remove Adams but will install guardrails. The actual removal procedure is actually much more complicated than the internet has let on of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDapa0YSnVs&t=457s

Start watching the explainer at the 6:30 mark

On the one hand,

Trump is announcing himself a king and one of his foot soldiers is trying to find ways to bring charges against Democrats who criticize him or any other Republican: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-appointed-prosecutor-kicks-operation-whirlwind-eyes-schumer-rcna192878

On the other hand, JB has an opportunity to troll Democrats and his neurons can't resist despite more pressing issues.

It is all about Halibut Avenue

Like many Democratic women (or Democrats in general), I think she sees Trump as a person without any redeeming qualities.

1. In the call between Democratic Governors and Schumer/Jefferies, she apparently gave a variant of people need to FAFO in order to ensure they never vote for Trump again;

2. She takes abortion rights seriously as demonstrated by her stance in fighting against LA and TX.

3. She seems like she might be willing to do something about Adams because having Trump in control of NYC with Adams as his puppet-prefect it bad.

https://bsky.app/profile/joshuajfriedman.com/post/3likp45oxkk2n

A master class in how you respond to Trump

I think it is about further gutting agencies that are independent from the executive by statute. It could be about gutting the Federal Courts ability to decide on the Constitutionality of Executive Orders and starting the pretext for ignoring them if/when the Supreme Court rules against Trump.

Trump and Co are still very high on their own supply and today they "ended" congestion pricing in NYC while sending out a faux Time cover with Long Live the King and Trump wearing a crown.

Hochul is responding well but theatre criticism demands that people criticize Hochul's response

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/02/all-hail-the-king

1. Trump states he is ending congestion pricing in NYC;

2. Hochul says FU, we will see you in court.

3. Trump declares himself king on social media

https://bsky.app/profile/ryanjreilly.com/post/3lik4sbvu4c2n

U.S. Attorney Ed Martin to launch investigation into Schumer.

Horman has asked the DOJ to investigate AOC for using her free speech rights to advise people pulled over by ICE on their rights.

Also true.

You are responding to a guy who would ban private equity and then give anyone but support staff lifetime totality bans from working in finance/banking/consulting, even if they are just right out of college and in the first hour of orientation.

I'm not a neoliberal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IPNda2HSC4

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/world/americas/trump-migrant-deportation-panama.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

This administration that is very concerned with Christians has deported an Iranian convert to Christianity to Panama where she is trapped in a hotel room. If she has to go back to Iran, she will be killed most likely.

You can't have a welfare state without an administrative state

Pope Francis is dying and he is using his last moments to tell the U.S. Bishops than Trump and Co. are up to no good and especially calling out J.D. Vance.

LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

_________________

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,

I am writing today to address a few words to you in these delicate moments that you are living as Pastors of the People of God who walk together in the United States of America.

1. The journey from slavery to freedom that the People of Israel traveled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person. [1]

2. These words with which I begin are not an artificial construct. Even a cursory examination of the Church’s social doctrine emphatically shows that Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel (cf. Mt 1:23); he did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life, and from the experience of having to take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own. The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration. I like to recall, among other things, the words with which Pope Pius XII began his Apostolic Constitution on the Care of Migrants, which is considered the “Magna Carta” of the Church’s thinking on migration:

“The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends for foreign lands.” [2]

3. Likewise, Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception. In fact, when we speak of “infinite and transcendent dignity,” we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society. Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa.

4. I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality. At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival. That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.

5. This is not a minor issue: an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized. The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable. This does not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration. However, this development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others. What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.

6. Christians know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and as communities reaches its maturity. Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings! The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception. [3]

7. But worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations, easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.

8. I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother bishops of the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights. God will richly reward all that you do for the protection and defense of those who are considered less valuable, less important or less human!

9. I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.

10. Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain due to migration and/or deportation. May the “Virgen morena”, who knew how to reconcile peoples when they were at enmity, grant us all to meet again as brothers and sisters, within her embrace, and thus take a step forward in the construction of a society that is more fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all.

Fraternally,

Francis

From the Vatican, 10 February 2025

Whatever this means: Trump signed more executive orders including one that "reestablishes the long-standing norm that only the president or the attorney general can speak for the United States when stating an opinion as to what the law is," Scharf said.

https://abc7.com/post/trump-will-sign-new-executive-orders/15927230/

Our Federalized system might also prevent some but all damage.

As my State Senator pointed out this morning, most forests in California (and most of the United States) are federal land. Slashing jobs at Interior and National Parks is going to be very bad during the summer travel and wildfire seasons.

What is happening at the DOJ and FBI is not good.

What is happening at HHS/NIH is not good.

But I still find it strange that DEI gets such strong reactions. Yes, there is some silliness in the language used at corporate training workshops but it is clear that Trump's crusade against DEIA is more about reasserting white supremacy. Hence he found one group that deserves political asylum, white South Africans.* They are going at this with manic energy. They are defending alliances with far right fascist parties and going to the mats when someone is revealed as a Holocaust denier or having attended actual white supremacist rallies.

Or as I saw it, Musk's code warriors are like meth addicts ripping through the walls and copper wiring looking for the WOKE machine so they can figure out why women won't f**k them,

But if someone's response to all the chaos and damage being caused now is still to go "but DEI." I have to think it will be 2024's but her emails...

Orabnification is happening to.

I wonder if this a difference between liberal v. leftist. I think USAID did a lot more good than bad and its destruction will lead to a lot of pain and suffering around the world.

They are basically doing a wholesale dismantling of the Federal Government which will cause a lot of pain down the road or worse.

And I don't think this is good even if the agencies were not perfect.

Putin and Xi wanted a weakened and discredited and untrusted U.S. and Trusk's actions are going to produce that. I don't believe in Evil Spock American Exceptionalism where the United States is only a source of evil and malice in the world. I don't believe in American Exceptionalism where we are only a force of unalloyed good.

But I am an internationalist and believe in soft power and America being active in world affairs.

I can't think of anything Putin or Xi would do differently if they were in charge of the U.S. instead of Trusk