Week of May 11th, 2025

Here we go...

1. Trump has a statuette of the attempted assassination of him in Butler, Pennsylvania on a table next to the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

2. The White house has taken over the Library of Congress. (Politico, Yahoo). The good folks at the Library of Congress tried to resist. Two were Trump appointees who at one point were refused entry. This Administration does not give a crap about the separation of powers detailed in the Constitution.

WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says that a reason for the firing of the Librarian of Congress is that she put in "inappropriate books in the children's section." However, The Library of Congress is not a lending library and children under 16 are not allowed in. It’s a research library. She’s probably never heard of such a thing.

3. Afrikaners (white South Africans) came to the US on a plane as refugees. (Newsweek, Wapo) As a reminder, Trump is trying to revoke the LEGAL status of 400,000 refugees fleeing violence and war (Afghan, Ukrainian, Cuban, Haitian). (Reuters, Newsweek, MSN)

4. Federal judge won’t block Trump’s plan to use IRS data to track down undocumented migrants. (CNN, Yahoo News) Oh by the way, they are using IRS data because so many of these people HAVE JOBS AND PAY TAXES and don’t have time to run around murdering white people or traffic children.

5. Robert (Brainworm) F. Kennedy - you know Secretary of Health and Human Services - spends most of his time spewing ridiculous theories about vaccines and autism, and campaigns against dangerous chemicals in food and fluoride in water. And also, apparently swims with his grandkids in a creek well-known for being full of toxic sewage. (NYT, NBC News) By the way, also this week he said, “Americans shouldn’t take medical advice from me.” The Secretary of HHS said this. He’s part of that Cabinet where everyone is “hired based on merit”, of course. Stephen Miller reiterated this this week.

6. “The conclave that elected Pope Leo was more rigged against Donald Trump than the 2020 presidential election.” — Steve Bannon. (Video) God these people are insufferable.

7. Trump’s signing a $5.5 billion deal for a Trump-branded golf course in Qatar (while serving as President of the United States of America), and they’re gifting him a $400 million jet. (The Guardian, AP News) I keep seeing MAGA on social media saying no – the flying palace was donated to our military. TRUMP SAID HIMSELF that it will go to his presidential library foundation at the end if his term. (Reuters) Is Fox not reporting that part??

8. The Trump administration cut federal funding for a research project at Cornell University aimed at developing a heart pump designed for babies and children with congenital heart defects bringing the effort to a halt. (US News and World report, Reuters)

9. “After being called out this week, DOGE quietly deleted 31 contracts from its website wiping out $122 million in supposed “savings” Musk’s team had claimed from cutting federal spending. But the site is still riddled with errors. They’re still listing 12 contracts and claiming $121 million in savings from those cuts despite multiple red flags and contradictions.” (Alt National Park)

10. Trump rescinds order to fire fed workers who monitor black lung in coal workers (again – after being called out). Nevertheless, most programs involved in Occupational Safety programs used to screen for health issues in workers with toxic exposures, including 9/11 responders are being gutted. (NBC News, WaPo)

11. DOGE staffers attempted to take control of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), but CPB leaders resisted citing federal law that protects the nonprofit’s independence from government interference. (NPR, Alt National Park)

12. Doom-scrolling break: Check out this middle-aged woman playing the drums to a fantastic jazzy/gospely version of America the Beautiful. Watch it to the end.

You’re welcome.

(Look, I’m not trying to be ageist or sexist. It’s just that in my experience it is unusual to see a middle-aged woman playing the drums – let alone like this. Oh, and, I’m a middle-aged woman.)

13. David Brooks (conservative commentator/author) reflected after the Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy:

"All my life, I have had a certain idea about America, that we're a flawed country, but we're fundamentally a force for good in the world. What I have seen over the last six weeks is the United States behaving vilely... It's a moral injury to see the country you love behave in this way."

He also admits that in the 1980’s, he “should have seen this coming”. “I joined the conservative movement in the 1980s, there were two types of people: those who cared earnestly about ideas, and those who wanted only to shock the left. The reactionary fringe has won. “ (The Atlantic)

14. Three Yale professors who have studied and written extensively on authoritarianism are leaving America. They wrote a very good (well, frightening) NYT Opinion piece.

15. Quick question, ICE has never operated with masks on until now. Why?

16. The US Secret Service actually took Former FBI Director James Comey to their Washington Field Office for an interview. Comey apparently posted “8647” on social media. The Administration decided to pretend this was a death threat (yes, sigh, a death threat). (BBC, CNN) I’m no fan of Comey but, come on! If “86” was a threat of murder a lot of bar tenders would be in prison now. This is just stupid and frightening all at once – which I guess describes most of this presidency.

It must be noted that Trump has posted many (many) threats of violence on social media including reposting a picture of a Truck with an image of Biden tied up in the bed.

17. The US just sold Qatar and the UAE, both active supporters of terrorist organizations, billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment. (Israeli Times. Australian Broadcasting Company)

18. Alt National Park (which has been extremely accurate in it’s reporting and generally ahead of everyone else, has the skinny on the Trump and Republican budget. And by “the skinny” I mean “the catastrophic mess”. Alt National Park is pleading with us to spread the word.

19. Meanwhile the President of the United States of America (no, not a 13-year-old boy) is mean-tweeting about Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen. (CNBC). And somehow MAGA are just finding out that Springsteen has always been political and that Born in the USA was not a song just celebrating patriotism.

20. TODAY MARKS DAY 38 OF THE ADMINISTRATION DEFYING A 9-0 SUPREME COURT ORDER TO RETURN GARCIA. As I’ve said before (and is painfully obvious), if the Administration can openly defy a Supreme Court order with no consequences, our constitution is useless, and our democracy is done. It’s just that simple.

In the words of Thomas Jefferson in the musical Hamilton, “So what did I miss?”.