Week of February 23, 2025

The list continues...

1. Trump is not only removing most military leadership and replacing them with loyalists, but he is also removing military lawyers or JAG (Judge Advocate General). When it was suggested that replacing all the military lawyers is something someone would do if they were going to break the law, Hegseth said "They won't exist to be roadblocks to anything that happens."(!) Anything that happens?? (US News and World Report, Even Newsmax reported this)

Post on Threads: “I was in the JAG Corps for 13 years. One thing drilled into me was that our responsibility was to serve as the conscience of the armed forces.”

2. In keeping with the theme of only hiring people based on “merit”, Trump names podcaster Dan Bongino as Deputy FBI Director. Among many conspiracy theories he pushed on his podcast was that the 2020 election was stolen (zero evidence of this). Apparently, he and Patel are going to “de-wokeify” and “de-DEI-ify” the FBI. So far that means firing decorated Black people and women officers and trying to remove evidence of the accomplishments of POC and women. And once again, the people who rail the most passionately against DEI don’t understand it in the least.

3. The Justice Department has removed a report from its website that lays out recommendations for tackling the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. (Huffpo)

4. Remember how I keep telling you that they are coming for our National Parks? Well, I keep being right about that. In a press conference Trump called for an "emergency order" to begin logging our National Parks and national forests. Trump, “We are going to be freeing up our forests. We are going to be taking down trees”. If you can’t find me, I’ve probably chained myself to a tree in the North Cascades.

5. Trump fired 3400 forest service workers.

6. Staffers at Yosemite hung an upside-down flag. God bless them.

7. US joins Russia to vote against the UN resolution condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine. Because you know, Ukraine “started it”, “Zelensky is a “dictator who won’t have elections”, and Russian has never done anything wrong, ever. They really should kick us out of NATO.

8. Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl was dragged away in zip ties for speaking out at a town hall in Idaho (NBC and others). the video is so incredibly disturbing. Private security guards literally dragged her out of the room for speaking. It was a town hall but no one was allowed to voice dissent. The republican leader kept telling people to quit “popping off with their stupid comments”. So, she shouts “Is this a town hall or a lecture?” She was insistent. People are terrified right now for an infinitely long list of reasons. Don’t have a damn town hall and berate and arrest people who are justly freaking out.

(good news alert) Once the disturbing video started circulating, all charges against her were dropped and the private security company had their license revoked.

Republicans have responded by deciding that now is not a good time to have town halls (snort). (Rolling Stone, NBC, The Independent, etc.)

9. Republicans submitted a bill to impeach the judge who blocked DOGE from accessing Treasury data. (Bloomberg Law News)

10. Meanwhile, let’s check in on the price of eggs: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/eggs-us

11. Enrique Tarrio, former leader of The Proud Boys, convicted of seditious conspiracy for J6 and PARDONNED by Trump was seen following and hurling insults and generally harassing officers who defended US Capitol on January 6 (my blood is boiling just writing this). Later he was arrested for assaulting a woman who was protesting (The Guardian). Thank you, President Trump, for releasing this steaming pile of fetid dog shit back into public life.

12. Oh, you’ll be thrilled to know that the J6 Prison Choir is going to perform at the Kennedy Center (Yahoo, Opera Wire). You will remember that Trump installed himself as President of the Board (by getting rid of anyone on the who might vote against him).

13. Apparently, President Macron had to come all the way from Paris, France to show American journalists how to fact check Trump, when he (Trump) suggested that Europe was being paid back by Ukraine for military aid. (ABC, NBC, etc.)

14. Scott Jennings (painfully annoying Republican commentator on CNN) was asked why he’s so cavalier about it when he gets paid 6 figures to come on CNN and talk. His response was “well I show up and work for it.”

That genius Marjorie Taylor Green said “Federal employees do not deserve their jobs. Federal employees do not deserve their paycheck.” Like, none of them?

The visceral hatred on the right of federal employees is really something.

By the way, we have had roughly the same number of civil service workers since the 1970s— between 2.8 and 3.2 million workers (AI summary of multiple sources). Our population was about 215 million in 1975. It’s about 340 million now. Our government size is shrinking per capita.

15. Trump/Musk are trying to cut 50% of workers at the Social Security Administration (The AP). FIFTY PERCENT. It already takes over a year for a disability application to be reviewed. Once again “make government not work, so you can say see, government doesn’t work” so you can gleefully ruin people’s lives (remember Musk celebrating with the chain saw – that was only last week) and then privatize it to make a profit by cutting people off of their social security (think private health insurance).

16. House Republicans voted to completely gut Medicaid by cutting $880 billion from the Energy and Commerce committee (which oversees Medicaid) (CBS News etc.). They also want to cut $230 billion from SNAP. Every single GOP member supported this bill. Trump's 2017 tax cuts are extended, and new ones are implemented at a cost of $4.5 trillion over the next decade. The bill would add 2.8 trillion to the deficit (Committee for Responsible Federal Spending). 2.8 TRILLION on the backs of the poor, elderly, and disabled. But, hey at least the rich will get richer. So, there’s that.

As an aside, the vast majority of people who receive food stamps actually have full time jobs (70%, according to the GAO). The problem is they don’t get paid enough. Companies like Walmart are essentially subsidizing their personnel costs by relying on government assistance to the poor. Yes, taxpayers are subsidizing these companies so they can pay less in wages. Cool, cool.

17. Trump/Musk demanded NIH cut $190 million from pediatric cancer research (Rolling Stone AA). Trump tells DHS: Spend $200 million on TV commercials praising me. Even Kristie Noem, puppy killer (and yes I am going to call her that every time I mention her name. Taking that puppy to a rock quarry and shooting it was heinous. There is no excuse for not finding another home or paying for a trainer. Anyway…) admits this was Trump’s idea. Are we great yet?

18. A mystery illness in Congo has killed more than 50 people hours after they fell sick. There is a massive measles outbreak in the US (a disease that was eradicated in 2000), and bird flu running rampant in not just chickens but other animals and potentially humans. All of this while Trump and Musk are gutting NIH, halted funding for WHO, and stopped the CDC from issuing public health alerts. And RFK, the guy with the brain worm in charge of HHS, says the measles outbreak is not unusual. A baby has died. No one has died in the US from measles in at least 10 years.

19. The white house kicked the Associated Press and Reuters out of press briefings (Reuters, Dailey Mail). They weren’t nice enough to Trump.

20. The courts, our ONLY guardrails at this point said pay USAID, pay the federal grants, and resume refugee program. It is all being appealed or simply not complied with, but so much damage has already been done.

21. Trump rolled back Biden’s ethics rules that strictly prohibited employees in the executive branch from accepting gifts from lobbyists. Make Bribery Great Again!

22. NOAA is being gutted. From a person on Threads – “I work extensively with weather and climate scientists who work in the private sector—all of whom do good and important work that I greatly respect—yet even within the private sector there is near unanimous agreement that NOAA and NWS are indispensable.” Last week’s post explains the vital importance of NOAA.(WaPo, CNN, LA Times etc.)

23. Again, Musk is NOT doing audits. In fact, he mostly just making a mess. I giant mess. Alt National Park is doing the best reporting on this (most accurate as far as I can tell and before all other news outlets). Here is a link to their latest post about DOGE and its misadventures.

24. And now perhaps the single most embarrassing, ugly, disrespectful, bazaar, twisted (honestly there are not enough words) move by anyone ever in government in the history of the world – Trump shares an AI generated video on social media celebrating the future “Trump Gaza”. In it…

a. It’s raining US dollars on Musk on the beach.

b. Musk is gleefully eating stuff. Why? I don’t know but I guess he is so excited at the prospect of yet another Trump resort he wanted to celebrate on the graves of dead children.

c. Bearded belly dancers dance on the beach. Yes, you read that right.

d. A giant (giant) golden statue of Trump.

e. All of this to music with the lyrics “Trump will set you free.”

f. Ending with Trump and Netanyahu shirtless on the beach giddily sipping cocktails.

(my eyes are still bleeding)

Aside from what seems to me to be obvious sacrilege (or blasphemy? bible scholars help me out here), and how truly humiliating it is to be American right now, how disrespectful to the entire Muslim world, particularly Palestinians, to have bearded and scantily clad women (actually I think they were men in belly dancers outfits), the drinking of alcohol, showering of money, and worst of all, Trump and Netanyahu gloating – on land where tens of thousands of innocents were just killed in war.

25. And finally, in this week’s edition of “Why is JD Vance such an asshole?”, he and Trump had a Jerry Springer moment in the Oval Office…in front of TV cameras. Vance, nauseatingly obsequious to Trump, says why aren’t you thanking Trump more (or some such nonsense). And I just have to say MAYBE IT IS BECAUSE TRUMP HAS DONE NOTHING TO HELP UKRAINE, AND LIKE A FRIGGING PSYCHO, ACCUSED ZELENSKYY OF STARTING THE WAR, ACCUSED HIM OF BEING A DICTATOR, AND TRIED TO EXTORT HIS RARE EARTH MINERALS. (YES, I’M SHOUTING AGAIN, MY VOICE IS SO HIGH ONLY DOGS CAN HEAR IT NOW).

The thing that is bothering me almost as much as that nonsense is some reporter asking Zelenskyy WHY HE WAS NOT WEARING A SUIT. Bloody Hell!! To his credit he says, “I’ll wear costumes when the war is over.”

Over on the right they are talking about what a brilliant negotiator Trump is. However here in Not Upside Down Land, Trump had an agreement (well I call it extortion but anyway...) with Zelenskyy for his rare earth minerals but was such an asshole in the meeting Zelenskyy left without signing. In what chapter of The Art of the Deal is that brilliant strategy? The Berate and Insult Your Prospect Until He Leaves Without Signing chapter?

I could go on and on about how jarringly awful that meeting was to watch, but I am trying to keep the list items brief,

It must be noted that Musk keeps showing up in the oval office and cabinet meetings in a t-shirt and ballcap.

26. Bonus item arriving just under the wire…(Thank you for the tip Uncle Rod) Norway fuel giant refuses to fill US submarines after Trump-Zelensky clash. Norwegian firm Haltbakk Bunkers said: "We have today been witnesses to the biggest s***show ever presented "live on tv" by the current American president and his vice president. (MSN, Political Wire)

Quote of the Day from Political Wire: “I never thought that one day we would have to protect Ukraine from the U.S.” — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, quoted by Visegrád 24.As always, in the words of Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton, “So what did I miss?”