Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Miss Sassy bombs overseas

Rebecca's covering some good news tonight so be sure to check out her site.  C.I. and I have been noting how fat JD Vance is getting.  Yes, Miss Sassy is packing on the pounds as he stumbles on the world stage.  Normally, Mike covers Miss Sassy but I'm grabbing him tonight.  While packing on the pounds, he's made a fool of himself.  Sarah K. Burris (RAW STORY) notes the reality of Miss Sassy's Rainbow Tour:


“That was a direct assault on European democracy," alleged a German politician.

“It’s very clear now, Europe is alone," confessed a senior diplomat.

The reporter asked the man if he now sees the United States as an adversary and he replied, "Yes."


As C.I. noted last month, Donald Chump was turning our allies against us.  That's a pattern JD continued.  Does it surprise you?

Not me.  When a grown man can't stand up for his Indian wife or their children, I know he's not worth a dime.  He's worthless.  Why have a mixed family if you're just going to ignore all the White people attacking your wife and attacking your kids?  Miss Sassy only cares about himself.  Sad but true and very informative when we're talking about someone who refuses to serve the country.

Turning to the ridiculous Robert Kennedy Junior, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer sent the following to the hideous new Secretary of Health and Human Services:


Last Week Trump Admin Announced CDC-Wide Layoffs, Impacting Over 20% Of World Trade Center Health Program Staff Advocates Say Along With Recent Buyouts, On Top Of Other Cuts To 9/11 Funding Like $$ For FDNY To Provide Treatment To Members

In Letter To New HHS Secretary RFK, Senators Say Referring To Funding For Our 9/11 Heroes As Government Waste Is Outrageous And Call To Immediately Reverse Firings & Cuts Which Will Lead To Delayed Treatment & Care For Our First Responders

Schumer, Gillibrand: ‘Never Forget’ Is Not Just A Slogan, It Is A Sacred Promise We Must Uphold To Care For Our 9/11 First Responders

After the Trump administration brutally slashed the workforce for the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today demanded U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy JR. immediately reverse these cuts that directly impact care for our 9/11 first responders and survivors.

“‘Never forget’ is not just a slogan. It is a sacred promise to always stand by 9/11 heroes, a promise being broken by slashing funding and vital staffing for their healthcare in the World Trade Center Health Program. It’s unacceptable, and un-American,” said Senator Schumer. “To say funding for 9/11 first responders is government waste is outrageous and insulting. These brutal cuts mean layoffs for staff who have dedicated their careers to caring for our 9/11 survivors. It means delayed care for our sick first responders. It is telling 9/11 survivors that after they risked everything to protect us, we can’t support their healthcare needs. I’m demanding HHS Secretary Kennedy immediately reverse these cuts and terminations of the people who provide the healthcare to those who answered the call of duty on 9/11 and now suffer from cancer, respiratory illness and more.”

“The World Trade Center Health Program provides essential care for our 9/11 first responders and survivors who suffer from serious illnesses related to that fateful day,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Slashing funding and laying off workers who run this vital program will have a devastating impact on its ability to provide sick responders and survivors with the care they need. This is betrayal of our heroes who stepped up and risked their lives to put our community back together in one of our nation’s darkest hours, and we will not let it stand. HHS Secretary Kennedy must reverse these cuts and terminations immediately.”

A copy of Schumer & Gillibrand’s joint letter to Secretary Kennedy can be found here.

Schumer and Gillibrand said that cuts to the WTCHP have already led to the termination of at least 16 program staff according to advocates, with others taking the Administration’s “buy out” reducing those who work on or supervise the WTCHP by approximately 20% of total staff. This is on top of additional CDC announced cuts to research grants that reportedly will prevent the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) from providing members with treatment coverage for new, 9/11-related health conditions, and other research cuts set to negatively impact lifesaving research on 9/11 conditions and treatments.  

The WTCHP helps pay for first responders diagnosed with conditions related to their service on 9/11. WTCHP program covers the medical expenses for 9/11-related health conditions, including many types of cancers, respiratory illnesses, and more.

The senators explained the cuts will limit the program’s ability to support approximately 132,000+ 9/11 first responders and survivors and delay care and other services. According to advocates, this will impact 9/11 responders and survivors from the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Shanksville Crash site, who are in all 50 States and in 434 out of 435 Congressional Districts. Advocates say it will delay certifications for treatment of cancers and other conditions, delay pending petitions for expanded healthcare coverage, and overall increase wait times and negatively impact healthcare coverage as fewer staff will be available to respond to complaints by patients and intervene when there are issues with prescriptions and treatment.

Anthony Gardner, whose brother was tragically killed in the 9/11 attack and who worked in the WTC Health Program in his honor until he was fired last week, said: “For the past 3 years, I was privileged to be a member of the dedicated WTC Health Program team who takes great pride in ensuring the brave community of responders and survivors receive vital medical care and treatment for their 9/11-related health conditions.  The recent staffing cuts are particularly detrimental to those who receive care or are applying to receive care through the Program because they cross all of its critical service areas including medical health benefits, health condition certifications, enrollment, member communications, and research. I urge Secretary Kennedy to reverse these Program staffing cuts and to please refrain from making further staff reductions so this vital Program can fulfill its Congressionally-mandated mission to help this resilient community of 9/11 responders and survivors heal as they live with the ongoing consequences of that tragic day.”

Jim Brosi President of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association Local  854 IAFF said, “On behalf of the 7500 active and retired members of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, I urge Secretary Kennedy and the Trump administration to restore all funding to the 9/11  health program. More members of the FDNY have succumbed to 9/11 illness than were killed on the day of the attack. Survivors and 1st responders suffering from life threatening illness are dependent the treatment and medication this program provides. Program cuts will reduce staffing and access to care that will negatively impact the likelihood of survival and the ability to maintain some quality of life during treatment. Please do not turn your back on those who sacrificed their health and safety on behalf of countless victims.”

Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act said, “This cut of 20% of the staff of the World Trade Center Health Program means that services to over 137,000 9/11 responders and survivors from the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Shanksville Crash site, who are in all 50 States and in 434 out of 435 Congressional Districts will be impacted. I cannot believe that denying care to 911 responders and survivors is what the Trump Administration or the new HHS Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr. intended.”

John Feal, 9/11 advocate said, “The Trump administration’s decision to terminate 20 percent of the CDC is nothing short of reckless and inhumane and will cause more harm to the 9/11 community that’s already suffering. The lack of humanity and empathy is evident in their actions.”

Mario Cilento, President of the New York State AFL-CIO said, “On behalf of the New York State AFL-CIO’s 3000 local union affiliates and their 2.5 million members, retirees, and families, we are calling for the immediate reversal of the extreme and troublesome staffing cuts to the CDC World Trade Center Health Program, which provides lifesaving care to thousands of 9/11 responders, survivors, and their families. These cuts threaten the program's ability to deliver critical health services and research, putting vulnerable Americans at risk. We urge the administration to honor its commitment to those who answered the call on 9/11 by ensuring continued access to the care they need. We stood together as a nation on that horrific day and vowed to never forget. The federal government is morally obligated to ensure care for these individuals and must reverse these cuts now."

This latest chaos for the 9/11 health program is especially frustrating as it follows the senators two months ago securing permanent support for the WTCHP, but the federal funding was dropped at the last minute when President Trump & Elon Musk sunk the bipartisan spending agreement. The senators said they are worried about the future of the program with DOGE and the Trump Administration's indiscriminate cutting and called on the HHS to immediately restore funding.

Schumer and Gillibrand’s letter to newly appointed HHS Secretary Kennedy can be found below:

Dear Secretary Kennedy:

We write to express deep concern about and demand reversal of the reckless staffing cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP). This program has provided lifesaving health monitoring and treatment to thousands of 9/11 first responders, impacted area residents and workers and survivors all across the country in every State and in 434 of 435 Congressional Districts for nearly 15 years. It is extremely worrisome that the Trump administration’s proposals to indiscriminately cut federal employees will have a direct impact on the quality and accessibility of care provided to those who answered the call on 9/11 and are now sick with respiratory ailments, cancer and other conditions.

As you know, the WTCHP has provided critical screenings, services, research and medications to thousands of Americans at zero cost for 9/11-related health conditions and diseases. Since the establishment of the WTCHP in 2011, the number of program enrollees has more than doubled from 61,000 to 132,000.[1] This growing population of first responders and survivors, which was just expanded by bipartisan legislation to cover additional 9/11 Military and Civilian responders to the Pentagon and Shanksville PA crash site, highlights the need for elevated staffing and funding levels, rather than a nonsensical and dangerous 20 percent staffing reduction which puts the effective functioning of this vital program at risk. It is critical that the Trump administration uphold the funding and structure of the WTCHP that has been strengthened over the years through bipartisan agreements.

In our meetings with you prior to your confirmation as Secretary, you committed to working with Congress to ensure that 9/11 first responders and survivors continue to get the care they need. We ask that you uphold your commitment by reversing the rash and counterproductive termination of WTCHP staff and provide answers to how you will ensure continuity of quality care for WTCHP enrollees.

We also request a briefing by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and CDC detailing the changes that have been made to the WTCHP and how these changes will directly impact the program’s capacity to provide lifesaving care to current and future enrollees. In addition, we ask for you to provide detailed plans you will take as Secretary to strengthen the services provided to 9/11 first responders and survivors, as you committed to doing in our meetings with you.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

###



He'll blow them off.  He doesn't care about anyone but himself.

Please read Stan's "Sly's awful books proves Questlove a liar" and read "Books (Stan, Ava and C.I.)" where he discusses the book with Ava and C.I. and provides you with more reasons to loathe Sly Stone.  

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, February 18, 2025.   Oh, look, while the DSA attacks actual Democrats, they ignore reality and what we can actually accomplish right now, if we roll up our sleeves and get to work.



If you ever not grasped why the DSA should stick to Socialism and stop pretending that they're Democrats, look no further than political closet case Sam Seder.  Maybe when Socialist Michael Brooks was alive, he could strategize?  I have no idea.  But Sam's just another worthless JACOBIN reading Socialist.


He's done yet another attack ad (segment) on THE MAJORITY REPORT attacking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries because . . . Hakeem's a Democrat.   Sam found time for the bad author "Media: OWNED finds Eoin Higgins owned by bad journalism" -- an author who is a Socialist but managed to write a book about US politics that labels MAGA, Republicans, Libertarians, The Tea Party and "the left."


No where in the book does the Socialist identify himself as that nor all of his circle-jerk friends who are also Socialists.  It's just "the left."  They fake ass you over and over.  Not by accident.  They get together and make Cenk and Kyle heroes and talk about "Justice Democrats" which are really "Justice Socialists."  I'm hearing from people in Greg Casar's district who are very upset to learn that they thought they were voting for a Democrat when they weren't.  Greg might want to get ahead of that before mid-terms.  

Mike took on a Socialist front last night.  COMMON DREAMS -- not a Democratic site -- and Socialist Jake Johnson were pimping Aaron Regunberg's attack on Democrats.  Because that's what Socialists do and that's what Aaron is.  (Though he did run as a Democrat last year -- after two previous failed election cycles where he didn't.)  Aaron's DSA and yet Jake Johnson didn't think you needed to know that.  


Why could that be?


Maybe the answer's to be found in Alex Seitz-Wald's NBC NEWS report from 2023?  Let's see:


The tensions are familiar to any student of radical movements in history. And ideological movements often stagnate when their allied party wins the White House, and the unifying effect of a common enemy is replaced by the inherent messiness of governing.

Justice Democrats, the insurgent group that recruited progressives like Ocasio-Cortez, slashed its staff this year after a mixed record in Democratic congressional primaries, while prominent leftists have used words like “crisis” and “purgatory” as they debate their future. The problems facing far-left groups have led some to focus more on organizing among labor unions and tenants, rather than inside electoral politics. 

The national DSA has criticized and even threatened to expel its own members elected to Congress for apostasy on issues like support for Israel and a 2022 vote to end a railroad strike

In July, state Rep. Mike Connelly left his Massachusetts DSA chapter after he was threatened with expulsion for, among other things, endorsing Democratic Gov. Maura Healy’s re-election and appearing at an event with the Prince and Princess of Wales. 

“The ‘charges’ were, essentially, that I demonstrated a willingness to work with and support elected leaders and activists who are delivering results for working class and marginalized communities. I am guilty as charged, and proudly so,” Connelly said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 

[. . .]

Renée Paradis, a member of the party's National Political Committee said opinion inside the DSA ranges widely, including those who want the group to be more active inside the Democratic Party.

But the consensus coming out of the convention, she said, remains that DSA should keep running candidates in Democratic primaries while building its own outside campaign infrastructure.

"Most working-class voters still heavily identify with the Democratic Party," said Paradis. "Bernie’s campaigns and DSA’s own electoral campaigns have shown that we can build socialist power while tactically using the Democratic Party’s ballot line.”


See, it's planned.  They plan to rat f**k the Democratic Party.  


We are not on the same page.  They want to run Democrats out of Congress and replace them with Socialists posing as Democrats.  They want to run Democrats in Congress out of leadership and replace them with Socialists.


Remember that when they're attacking Hakeem.  


Remember that and remember what they're not doing as they try to get you to join their attack on Hakeem to take him out of Democratic Party leadership.  You might need to read THIRD's "Editorial: Congress needs to do its job and we need to do our job" first.  When you do, grasp that they have refused to tell you to target Republicans.  


They have refused to talk to, for example, Texas voters and remind them that John Cornyn and Ted Cruz are not "Republicans" as much as they are US senators.  Their party identification shouldn't matter, they are there to represent all of Texas.  And campaigns should have been mobilized to bombard them with the message "NO" on Donald Chump's nominees. 


You have to drop back to 1992 for when my state had a Republican in the US Senate.  But that's not the case for most states.  Equally true, you don't have to do an e-mail saying, "Teddy, you're handsome and I love that fat belly even though I'm a Democrat" -- you don't have to mention your party identification.  You are a constituent and if enough constituents raise hell -- regardless of party i.d., a senator will be prompted to listen.  


The Sodalists hiding in their political closets are a lot like closeted actors -- constrained and unconvincing.  Which is why they can't really participate in a worthy manner or make any real contributions.  


But Democrats?  We've been here before and we've pushed back and we've won.  We did it when Reagan was in the White House, we did it when Bully Boy Bush was in the White House.  


Socialists are the reason Chump gets away with so much.  They threw everything at him including the kitchen sink in his first term.  Everything was the worst, every Tweet the most offensive thing in the world.  It didn't look good to swing voters.  It looked like everything got attacked.  Our problems are policy differences and vision differences.  Senator Chuck Schumer rightly realizes that and that's why he makes the statements he does that send Socialist into a tizzy.


This version of Donald Chump is even more outrageous and unmoored than the previous one. 


And we need to convey that to the American people.  


But instead, we have Kyle and Sam and the other Socialists posing as Democrats and urging us to 'fight back' against Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.


DSA doesn't even have 100,000 members in this country.  There's a reason for that:  They don't know what the f**k they're doing.


Democrats know what they're doing.



As noted in the video, Chump's has a 46% approval rating and a 48% disapproval rating.


Chump is in his first 100 days .  


What does that mean?


The Socialist closet cases can't or won't tell you.  (To repeat SEP and PSL are Socialists and, unlike DSA, they don't hide in political closets.  My beef is with the posers trying to pass themselves off as Democrats while they rat f**k the party.)


No president of the United States gets a bigger pass from the press and the people than they do at any other time.  We're not even at day 30 right now.  


Republicans in the Senate can do whatever they want right now because they're under the mistaken belief that Chump is so popular.  They can skirt their legal obligations -- and have -- because they're too stupid to grasp that this is the high point.  They're apparently also scared from violent threats that MAGA is making against them.  They better be reporting those threats.


They are craven and they are letting Chump boss them around.  Because they think he's so damn popular and that the MAGAs contacting their offices represent America.  MAGAs do not represent America and that's why Democrats especially need to be contacting any Republican in the Senate that is from their state.  It needs to be made clear that -- beyond the echo chamber -- people are outraged.


I'm arguing -- and have been for some time -- that we focus on the Senate.  The reason being it's a statewide office.  Susan Collins, for example, can't afford to lose the Democrats who've voted for her in the past.  If you want to focus on the House, have at it.  I think it's easier to build resistance in the Senate because the House exists as it does due to gerrymandering.


But that's what we need to be talking about.  We don't need to be signing off on DSA's efforts to take out Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.


And that's not, "Don't you criticize him!"  Call him out all you want.  But grasp that he's not going anywhere and that this effort is about trying to take him out of leadership to replace him with a Socialist.  Yet again, while Democrats fight to save the country, Socialists hiding in political closets are working overtime to take out Democrats.


By the way, everyone's e-mailing the public account about this or that takedown of TYT's Ana.  I'm not interested.  Not until the YOUTUBER tells the truth.  Ana's a Socialist who hid in a political closet. Again, her end goal was destruction of the US system.  That's why, when Chump offered that, it was so easy for her to join MAGA.  It's not an accident.  And if, at this late date, you're calling out Ana and not noting that she was a Socialist, that she was part of JACOBIN, etc, etc, I don't see you as brave.  I don't see you as a truth teller.  I see you as a trickster.


Chump is outrageous and he is destroying our government.  That's reality.  And it's the reality that Americans are seeing and that reality is going to destroy him.


Farmers are in an uproar.   Ben Palen (KANSAS REFLECTOR) reports:




Back in November, I wrote a column for Kansas Reflector that discussed the likely adverse effects of President Trump’s proposed tariffs on U.S. farmers.

The piece noted that 398 million acres of cropland has been added to the mix around the world since the start of this century, notably in tropical regions such as Brazil and India. There is increasing competition for U.S. farmers in export markets. The United States alone cannot absorb all that we produce here.

Many farmers voted for Trump because he promised less regulation and greater prosperity for America’s farmers. The hard truth is that, like most of the folks who voted for Trump, farmers failed to do their homework about the reality of the new administration. All of this has occurred in the context of higher input costs and tight margins for virtually all crops.

We are now living and working in an environment where the only constant is chaos. Chaos produces uncertainty, and that leads to loss of trust. The buyers of U.S. farm products are not going to deal with nations that cannot be trusted. There are plenty of options in today’s world for those buyers to bypass the United States. Why on God’s green earth would they put up with the insanity that we have in Washington now?

It is almost laughable that some Republicans have come to the defense of Trump’s proposed tariffs, and that some of those same Republicans have promised to help the farmers who feel the impact.

Really?

We have an unelected multibillionaire who in effect bought the Trump presidency now running amok in Washington. On the one hand, we see unprecedented efforts (that is, without the advice and consent of the Congress) by some entity called DOGE to slash government spending, and on the other we hear some of Trump’s cronies promise aid for farmers. The two cannot be squared. Setting aside your political views, this is an unprecedented assault on the Constitution and the separation of powers.

Americans are seeing just how unethical he truly is and how he just lies to get his way.  They're reminded of it when they go grocery shopping or fill up a tank of gas.  The prices have not come down, they have gone up and he's a liar, exposed at every check out counter.  He's unethical and running scams when he should be helping the American people.  AP notes:


Donald Trump has leaned into his unofficial role as the "crypto president " in ways that can both help the crypto industry and enrich himself and his family.

Once a skeptic of cryptocurrencies, Trump has made a complete reversal and embraced digital currencies in a way no other elected official has done. He's promised to enact crypto-friendly policies and make the U.S. "the world capital" of digital assets.

He's also attached the Trump name to a crypto token and other crypto-themed products. The cryptocurrency industry, which spent heavily to help Trump win last year's election, has expressed mixed feelings about some of his crypto ventures.

Critics have said the ventures are ripe for abuse by people seeking Trump's influence. Trump put his investments and assets in a trust managed by his children and has pledged not to play any role in managing his companies while president.

With more on that topic, Jai Hamid (CRYPTOPOLITAN) reports:

In a mind-blowing interview with Coffeezilla, Kelsier’s Hayden Davis, the self-proclaimed launch strategist behind multiple political meme coin launches, openly admitted to insider trading, sniper wallets, and market manipulation—implicating presidents Donald Trump and Javier Milei as well as First Lady Melania Trump.

He detailed how meme coins like LIBRA were rigged from the start, how insiders had pre-launch access to tokens, and how every major launch was nothing more than a calculated financial game. “This is an insiders’ game. It’s an unregulated casino,” Hayden said, confirming that early buyers at a private dinner in Washington, D.C., were given access to Trump’s token before the public.

“I thought some of these meme coins could turn into something real,” Hayden added. “But the reality is, it’s just a game. The people who know how to play win. The rest lose.” Mind you this is the guy who launched the $LIBRA token that wiped $4.6 billion from the market in six hours.
Hayden shared that before Trump’s token launch, a small group of investors were granted exclusive pre-sale access at a valuation of $500 million. According to him, these buyers were let in before the contract address was made public, so that they could purchase at rock-bottom prices before the retail frenzy.


Bully Boy Bush was supposed to be Teflon coated but Democrats worked hard and exposed his true nature.  We're doing the same with Chump.  But we're not being helped by the DSAers who are more concerned with pushing AOC higher up the leadership chain than they are with saving the country.


Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued the following:


Identifying potential violations of strict data protection laws, senators demand information on DOGE’s infiltration of IRS systems

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell warning that personnel affiliated with Elon Musk infiltrating the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) systems could be in violation of strict taxpayer data protection laws that prohibit both the improper disclosure and inspection of Americans’ tax returns. The senators demanded copies of any memorandum granting IRS system access to any Musk-affiliated personnel, as well as justifications and records related to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) inspections of taxpayer data. The senators also sought to learn whether DOGE personnel have accessed or interfered with any work by the IRS Criminal Investigation division or moved any IRS data, including tax return information, from IRS systems to external servers or recipients.  

According to public reports, the White House is pressuring the IRS to agree to give software engineers working for Elon Musk at DOGE broad access to IRS systems, property, and datasets which include the private tax return information of hundreds of millions of American citizens and businesses. Potential access includes the IRS’ Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), which would give Elon Musk and his associates access to private bank records and other confidential, legally protected information belonging to American taxpayers. 

“Even if individuals affiliated with DOGE are employed by Treasury, their access to tax information may not be legal,” wrote the senators. “For inspection of taxpayer information to be lawful, it must be made to or by an authorized person for an authorized purpose … To date, no information on DOGE employees or any others executing orders on Musk’s behalf have revealed any clear, stated purpose as to why they need access to return information, whether they have followed all required laws to gain access to IRS systems, and what steps the IRS has taken to ensure that inspection of tax return is contained to authorized personnel and not disclosed to any unauthorized parties.” 

“No executive order requiring agency heads to provide DOGE personnel access to IRS records or information technology systems supersedes the federal tax code,” the lawmakers continued. “Software engineers working for Musk seeking to gain access to tax return information have no right to hoover up taxpayer data and send that data back to any other part of the federal government and may be breaking the law if they are doing so.” 

“We are also extremely concerned that DOGE personnel meddling with IRS systems in the middle of tax filing season could, inadvertently or otherwise, cause breakdowns that may delay the issuance of tax refunds indefinitely. Any delay in refunds could be financially devastating to millions of Americans who plan their budgets around timely refunds every spring,” the senators concluded. 

The senators requested the IRS provide clarity, including copies of memorandums, on the decision to grant Musk and DOGE access to IRS systems and a list of specific people who would have access to these systems, by February 21, 2025. 

Senator Warren’s leadership has been instrumental in Democrats’ fight against Elon Musk’s takeover of government agencies:  

  • On February 14, 2025, the Treasury and federal government watchdogs announced, following pressure from Sen. Warren, that they would open an investigation into Treasury Secretary Bessent granting Elon Musk and DOGE access to critical government payment systems.  
  • On February 13, 2025, after reports revealed Elon Musk would take advantage of loopholes in federal ethics laws to avoid publicly disclosing his financial conflicts of interest, Sen. Warren led several Democrats in a letter demanding Musk publicly reveal how he could stand to profit from his role in the Trump administration. 
  • On February 10, 2025, following Elon Musk and Project 2025 architect Russ Vought attempting to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Sen. Warren spoke at the CFPB headquarters and vowed to fight back, saying “Congress built (the CFPB), and no one other than Congress — not Donald Trump, not Elon Musk, no one – can fire the financial cops.
  • On February 7, 2025, following Elon Musk and DOGE forcing their way into the Department of Education, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Minority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) led a coalition of Democrats in demanding the Department of Education launch an investigation into Musk and DOGE’s access to federal student loan data.  
  • On February 5, 2025, as part of Senate Democrats 30-hour hold on Russ Vought’s nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke out against the serious consequences of Mr. Vought’s leadership and underscored the danger of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s power grab. 
  • On February 5, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren joined Democrats’ demand for the Senate Committees on Finance and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to hold hearings into how Elon Musk and DOGe gained access to systems that control payments to millions of American citizens. 
  • On February 4, 2025, following Treasury Secretary Bessent’s inadequate response to his role in Musk and DOGE accessing critical government payment systems, Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed him to provide the American public with answers. 
  • On February 4, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren called on the Government Accountability Office to urgently investigate Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s decision to grant access to sensitive government payment systems to Elon Musk and other DOGE employees. 
  • On February 4, 2025, at a rally in front of the Department of the Treasury, Senator Elizabeth Warren called Elon Musk’s government power grab an attempt to “seiz(e) power away from the American people.” 
  • On February 3, 2025, at a press conference with Senate Democrats, Senator Elizabeth Warren sounded the alarm on the danger of Elon Musk having access to millions of Americans’ sensitive personal information, calling it an attempt to “take over this government to make it work better for themselves and worse for everyone else.” 
  • On February 3, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren blasted Secretary Bessent for allowing Musk and DOGE access to the critical Treasury systems and the sensitive personal information in them. 

###



New content at THIRD:


The following sites updated:



Chump is destroying our way of life

Donald Chump is bound and determined to destroy our country.  All you have to do is look closely to grasp that.  Constitutional attorney  Deborah Pearlstein (MSNBC) writes:

During Donald Trump’s first few weeks in office, the president has issued a flurry of executive orders aimed not just at reshaping the federal government, but at removing all checks on his own power. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against these actions, with many arguing the Constitution does not grant the president the authority he now seeks to assert.

The first and most important thing to keep in mind when considering the legality of Trump’s actions is a very straightforward principle of constitutional law: Before the president can take any action, he has to have the legal power to do it. Presidents get their power from one of two places: the Constitution or a law passed by Congress. So that no one has to guess at the legality of a president’s actions, executive orders usually start with citing which specific provision of the Constitution or which specific act of Congress gives the president the power to issue that order.

The most troubling executive orders to come out of this administration thus far are those that are deeply vague about what power the president is actually exercising. What concerns those of us who care about preserving the Constitution’s separation of powers most is that this reflects a truly unprecedented understanding of executive power. It is as if the administration takes the view that this president need not be limited by law — that Trump’s presidency comes with the power to do anything he wants.

He has launched an attack on our legal system and upon democracy.  David McAfee (RAW STORY) reports:

Bloomberg Law exclusively reported on Sunday that the "Trump Justice Department has assigned politically appointed newcomers decisionmaking power over sensitive matters, including ethics, employee discipline, and release of information sought by inspectors general and Congress, stripping these authorities from the longstanding oversight of a senior career official."
"Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, in a Jan. 27 memo reviewed by Bloomberg Law, handed the authorities to two of his staffers — one a former criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump and another a 2021 law school graduate," according to the outlet's reporting this weekend.

The report further claims that the "two political appointees will be able to make final determinations on 'adverse personnel actions and bar referral matters,' ethics recusals and waivers, nominee financial disclosures, and a variety of other delicate professional responsibility decisions that have historically been handled instead by the department’s highest-ranking career official."

"The political appointees will also have decisionmaking authority regarding referrals from the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates federal employee whistleblower complaints; inspector general requests for access to grand jury material; and disclosures to Congress, including asserting privilege or appearing in response to lawmaker subpoenas, the memo said," it reads. "Delegating such weighty tasks to political aides — both first-time DOJ employees — without a career official’s involvement is a dramatic departure from past practice."

Our system is set up with checks and balances.  He needs to be put in check.  We need to demand that our Congress do that.  We need to demand that right now.  Melissa Quinn (CBS NEWS) reports:

President Trump's firings of the members of independent agencies and boards have prompted a string of legal fights that could set the Supreme Court up to reconsider and potentially overturn a 90-year-old decision that shields certain executive branch officials from being removed after political shifts in the White House.
Since returning to the presidency, Mr. Trump has terminated the heads of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, as well as the director of the Office of Government Ethics and the special counsel, Hampton Dellinger, who oversees the office that investigates whistleblower complaints.


We need to demand it now.  Not four years from now, right now.


"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, February 17, 2025.  Donald Chump and co-president Alien Musk continue their assault on workers as they work to increase the unemployment rate in the US while sending grocery prices through the roof. 


Paul Krugman (SUBSTACK) notes this morning:


Last month SpaceX carried out a test launch of its in-development Starship rocket. Liftoff was achieved, but as the company later announced, “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn.” In other words, it exploded.

It would be wrong to think of this explosion as a disaster; new products often experience failures during testing. That is, after all, why we test them. Still, the euphemistic language reeks of unwillingness to take responsibility and admit that things didn’t go as planned. But then again, what would you expect from a company owned by Elon Musk?

And here’s the thing: If a rocket blows up, you can build a new rocket and try again. “Move fast and break things” is sometimes an OK approach if the things in question are just hardware, which can be replaced. But what if the object that experiences “rapid unscheduled disassembly” is something whose continued functioning is crucial to people’s lives — say, something like the U.S. government?

This isn’t a hypothetical question: Musk, with backing from Donald Trump, is blowing up significant parts of the U.S. government as you read this. And we can already see the shape of multiple potential disasters.

The Muskenjugend — the mostly very young people Musk has hired to work at the Department of Government Efficiency, which isn’t actually a government department in any legal sense but which Trump has effectively given huge and probably unconstitutional power to remake federal agencies — generally seem to share three characteristics.

First, they all seem to be extreme right-wing ideologues: whenever journalists investigate the social media trail of one of Musk’s operatives, what they find is horrifying. For example, Marko Elez, who had access to the Treasury Department’s central payments system, had in the recent past advocated racism and eugenics.

Second, they don’t know anything about the government agencies they’re supposedly going to make more efficient. That’s understandable. The federal government has around 2 million workers, many — I would say the vast majority — performing important public services, in a huge variety of fields. You can’t parachute into a government agency and expect to know in a matter of days which if any programs and employees are dispensable.

But the third characteristic of the Muskenjugend is that, like Musk himself, they’re arrogant. They believe that they can parachute into agencies and quickly identify what should be cut.



 Dems in Congress are highlighting some of what Chump is attacking.








Over the weekend, on WEEKEND EDITION SATURDAY Alien Musk's attacking federal agencies was noted:


SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And it has been a tumultuous week at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. NPR's Laurel Wamsley has been following all the twists and turns at the bureau this week. Laurel, thanks so much for being with us.

LAUREL WAMSLEY, BYLINE: Hey there, Scott.

SIMON: Catch us up. What's been happening with this agency?

WAMSLEY: Well, there's been a lot of layoffs this week. That's part of Trump's plan to massively reduce the federal workforce. At CFPB, some 150 employees lost their jobs. That's about 9% of the staff. Those cuts were largely folks who'd been at the bureau for less than four years. One of the employees who lost her job this week was Johanna Hickman, who was an attorney in the bureau's enforcement division. She received her termination notice at 9 p.m. on Tuesday. And because her work e-mail had already been turned off, it came to her personal e-mail.

JOHANNA HICKMAN: You know, it's heartbreaking. I think we do exceptional work at the bureau, and I have been honored to serve in this role for the last, you know, over a year and a half. I expected to be here for another 15 years. And it's shocking. It's unlawful, for one thing, and extraordinarily disappointing.

WAMSLEY: And right now, essentially, all of CFPB's work has been halted. Employees have been locked out of the building and told they can't do any work. And Elon Musk's team, meanwhile, has been given access to the building and to its systems.

SIMON: And where does that leave events now this weekend?

WAMSLEY: Well, staff are bracing for even further cuts. According to a legal complaint by CFPB's union, they're expecting that perhaps 95% of all employees could be fired. A reporter asked President Trump on Monday whether his goal was to have CFPB totally eliminated, and Trump said yes. But for now, a federal judge ruled yesterday that they can't conduct layoffs at CFPB, at least through March 3, when a hearing is scheduled, and they can't delete any agency data either.

SIMON: And, Laurel, remind us - the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in 2008, and why?

WAMSLEY: That's right. That's when millions of Americans lost their homes due to lax lending standards, and it brought the global economy tumbling with it. The Dodd-Frank Act established the bureau to prevent such a disaster from happening again. At a high level, what the bureau supposed to do is that it's been tasked by Congress to regulate consumer financial products and services, like credit cards, mortgages, et cetera. So consumer protection responsibilities are now unified under one agency that's tasked with being on the side of the consumer, against big banks and financial services companies. And it's really done a lot.

I mean, just in recent months, it's made rules capping credit card late fees and overdraft fees. It sued the payment app Zelle and the banks that operate it, saying they didn't protect consumers from fraud. And it sued Capital One for advertising a high-yield checking account that paid close to zero in interest.



Adam Cancryn, Megan Messerly and David Lim (POLITICO) report:

The Trump administration carried out more mass firings across the Health and Human Services Department this weekend, continuing a chaotic purge of the federal workforce that career officials and lawmakers warned would hurt key programs and impair efforts to track threats to public health.

The cuts hit staffers at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, several people with knowledge of the firings told POLITICO. The administration also terminated some staff at the office responsible for emergency preparedness and response.

The firings were part of a culling of roughly 3,600 probationary employees across the sprawling department that began earlier this week with terminations primarily at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health.



Donald Chump and Alien Musk continue their attack on the US government.  Foreign born Alien prefers to destroy the US system because he misses the apartheid he embraced in South Africa and Donald Chump is just too stupid to know what he's doing. 


Chump demonstrated that stupidity repeatedly over the weekend.  For example?   Doina Chiacu (REUTERS) explains Chump posted to social media today,  "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law."  No, that's not true, it's never been true.  Chiacu also notes that Chump is claiming that he survived an assassination attempt because God wants him to save the country.  Need another?  Rebecca Schneid (TIME) reports:

To mark Valentine’s Day, the White House posted a meme across its X, Instagram, and Facebook social media accounts. The post included a new take on the popular “roses are red, violets are blue” refrain. But in lieu of a traditional love poem, the White House instead came up with a rhyme that targeted illegal immigration.

“Roses are red, violets are blue, come here illegally, and we’ll deport you,” the text of the Valentine’s Day message read. Against a pink backdrop, the poem was accompanied by the faces of President Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan. The caption read “Happy Valentines Day,” with a red heart emoji.

Various organizations have since spoken out to condemn the post.

Voto Latino, an organization that works to engage Latino communities in the voting process, called the post “offensive and divisive.”

“This post was deliberately crafted to provoke and sow division, but the struggles of immigrant families are not a joke,” the organization said. “Using a lighthearted holiday to demean and target communities is not only irresponsible—it is beneath the dignity of the presidency.” 

 

The immigrant harming this country is Alien Musk.  Ed Mazza (HUFFINGTON POST) reports:


Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) on Sunday sarcastically admitted she was wrong about a key part of President Donald Trump’s MAGA platform. 

Trump has frequently claimed that immigrants were taking jobs from Americans, at times insisting that more than 100% of new jobs were going to immigrants.  

“There’s an immigrant taking people’s jobs,” Crockett admitted in a post on social media. “His name is Elon Musk.” 

Tech billionaire Musk, who was born in South Africa, has been leading Trump’s effort to shrink the government and cut spending, which has led to agencies being gutted.

Crockett pointed out the impact, direct and indirect, that Musk’s cuts are already having around the nation: 

“He’s snatching farms, government jobs (even those in which they manage our national security), and definitely those whose jobs are to root out fraud (inspector generals), & those that are keeping us safe (FAA), meals on wheels workers, head start, and the list goes on, so I’ll be the bigger person and admit to MAGA that I was wrong when I said immigrants wouldn’t take our jobs. You were 1000 percent correct.”

Crockett said earlier this month that even some Republicans in Congress weren’t happy with Musk and were secretly rooting for him to fail. 





We do realize, right, that he's not only refused to lower the prices of eggs (they are at least double what they were when Joe was president) and other groceries, but that he's destroying the economy while also attempting massive lay offs?  We do realize lay offs lead to increased unemployment, right?


Did those fools of you who voted for him actually vote for him to cause a recession?


If not, what you think his tariffs and firings are going to result in?  


Josephine Harvey (HUFFINGTON POST) notes:


President Donald Trump seems to expect Americans to take his word for it that his tariffs plan will work out well for them.

Trump on Thursday announced he was imposing reciprocal tariffs on trade partners, a plan that could easily backfire and drive up prices for American consumers.

President Donald Trump seems to expect Americans to take his word for it that his tariffs plan will work out well for them.

Trump on Thursday announced he was imposing reciprocal tariffs on trade partners, a plan that could easily backfire and drive up prices for American consumers.

What magical land is your brain residing in that allows you to escape basic economic and market place realities?


AP's Fatima Hussein notes, "The IRS will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season, according to two sources familiar with the agency's plans, and cuts could happen as soon as next week."  MAGA fools, we don't need IRS workers right now?  At the height of tax season?  Julia Ainsley (NBC NEWS) explains, "The Department of Justice fired multiple immigration judges on Friday, according to two sources familiar with the decision and a statement from one of the judges on LinkedIn. The move threatens to throw sand in the gears of an already strained immigration system as the Trump administration moves to rapidly reshape the federal workforce. "  Again, he's stupid, too stupid for the job.  Liam Archacki (THE DAILY BEAST) reports on more firings -- re DEI, were in phase two with phase three set to start shortly.  You can also refer to Tom Boggioni's report at RAW STORY on the same topic.


Generally, we expect a president to actually create jobs.  We don't expect them to knowingly and intentionally increase the unemployment rate. 


His attack on free speech is nothing new -- though Glenneth Greenwald and Matt Taibbi try to pretend otherwise.  The latest attack on free speech from Chump?   Julianne Moore is an actress who's been nominated for every major film and TV acting award.  A multi-Academy Award nominees, she's won one for Best Actress, a BAFTA,  two Emmys and three Golden Globes.  She's also a children's book author.  On INSTAGRAM today, she noted the following:


It is a great shock for me to learn that my first book, Freckleface Strawberry, has been banned by the Trump Administration from schools run by the Department of Defense. Freckleface Strawberry is a semi-autobiographical story about a seven year old girl who dislikes her freckles but eventually learns to live with them when she realizes that she is different “just like everybody else.” It is a book I wrote for my children and for other kids to remind them that we all struggle, but are united by our humanity and our community.
I am particularly stunned because I am a proud graduate of Frankfurt American High School a #DOD school that once operated in Frankfurt, Germany. I grew up with a father who is a Vietnam veteran and spent his career in the #USArmy. I could not be prouder of him and his service to our country. It is galling for me to realize that kids like me, growing up with a parent in the service and attending a @dodea_edu school will not have access to a book written by someone whose life experience is so similar to their own. And I can’t help but wonder what is so controversial about this picture book that cause it to be banned by the US Government. I am truly saddened and never thought I would see this in a country where freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right. Thank you to @penamerica for bringing this to my attention. #FAHS #frecklefacestrawberry @uyenloseordraw @thebookgrp


Graig Graziosi (INDEPENDENT) reports:


The federal education system that supports Defense Department schools around the world has ordered schools under its purview to remove books from their libraries that deal with any topic relating to diversity, equity and inclusion, following Donald Trump’s executive order.

The missive from the Department of Defense Education Activity was issued on February 6, forcing schools — like an elementary institution at the U.S. Army’s Fort Campbell in Kentucky — to round up books that don't align with the Trump administration's ideological views

[. . .]


Schools have already been told they can’t host events recognizing Black History Month and other cultural observances, agency spokesman Will Griffin said last week.

The document bans “monthly cultural observances,” prompting schools to immediately cancel Black History Month events and remove bulletin boards referencing Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks, Tennessee’s Clarksville Now reported.



The following sites updated: