Send deportees to Guantanamo for a more macho message

Mary Louise Kelly and Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR talked about the nasty guy’s announcement of using Guantanamo to hold deportees as they’re processed and before they are sent to their country of origin. The big issue is cost to get perhaps up to 30,000 deportees there, to feed, house, and supervise them. Congress would have to allocate the money and they might not approve it. There are also legal issues. They brought Ben Wittes of the legal website Lawfare to talk about the legal issue and also why the nasty guy thinks this is a great idea. Said Wittes:

The name Guantanamo Bay to America signals terrorist detention. So it elevates the status of what are really routine immigration enforcement actions into something like holding major terrorist figures that signals, I'm going to bring back the big bad Guantanamo Bay for this.

Pfeiffer adds that putting the detention center somewhere on the US mainland “wouldn't send as much of a macho message.” Khalil AlHajal is an opinion page writer for the Detroit Free Press. I’m pleased that with the Detroit region having such a large Arab population the Freep has an Arab opinion writer, though the piece I’m discussing isn’t about Arab issues. It’s about a Detroit program that has helped lower homicide rates. Detroit has a ShotSpotter system in which microphones are placed around the city that listen for gunshots. When the system registers a shot police are notified with the hope they will respond quickly. Detroit also has various neighborhood watch programs to help reduce crime. These are run by the citizens and have been quite successful. They helped get funding so the ShotSpotter system could expand. Along with that help they went to police and said there is a fundamental flaw to the system. By the time it registers something, the shot has already been fired. That’s too late. What we need is a ShotStopper system. That’s us. So help us get funded so we can do the work full time, rather than as volunteers who also have full time jobs. Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison described the program and the people who work it.

“They actually understand and know the lifestyles of these young men and women,” Bettison said. “These community violence intervention groups know exactly where to find them, exactly how to communicate with them and how to inspire them to leave that life. When they realize that they do matter, and they start seeing themselves in the future, at that point, with hope, they stop acting reckless ... “If you’re hopeless and you don’t see yourself in the future, you’re very, very dangerous, because you don’t care about yourself or anybody else. You’ve just completely given up. And the young folks have a word for it — crash out. … You just don’t care about nothing. At that point, you’re a suicide dummy, and you don’t care who you destroy as you’re going out.”

In the program areas homicides dropped 45% between Nov. 1, 2023 and Oct. 31, 2024. AlHajal gets to the reason for his opinion piece. State funding to keep the program running didn’t actually get into a state law by the end of the year. This program is worth funding. Without it lives are at risk. Wednesday night a commercial airplane about to land at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC collided with a military helicopter. Both craft ended up in the Potomac River. Between the two craft 67 lives were lost. Of course, NPR has been looking at this story from every angle they can think of. There have also been many related political stories. And one of those is by NPR host Kelly talking to reporter Lisa Hagen. The kernel of the story is in Kelly’s introduction:

So the investigation into what caused this fatal air collision is just beginning, but almost immediately, President Trump and other administration officials said diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Federal Aviation Administration were to blame. Trump also acknowledged he had no direct evidence that DEI had anything to do with the crash.

Hagen talked to Ian Haney Lopez, a law professor at the University of California who wrote the book “Dog Whistle Politics.” Hagan summarized what he said:

Blaming DEI is shorthand for a story that America used to be based only on competence and meritocracy, which - that's an inversion of our actual history of pervasive discrimination against people other than straight, white men.

During the press conference the nasty guy read from the actual FAA DEI policy, decrying what it said. But it is the same policy that was in effect during his first term. The argument for DEI is that it makes hiring more about merit than anything else. The argument against DEI is that it makes hiring less about merit. With those competing claims I know who I believe. Oliver Willis of Daily Kos wrote that the nasty guy gutted an aviation safety committee just a few days before the crash. He couldn’t eliminate the committee because that would require an act of Congress. But he could fire all its members. The article doesn’t say in what way, if any, gutting the safety committee had on the collision. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported the nasty guy blamed more than DEI for the collision. He also blamed outgoing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Barack Obama, Democrats, air traffic control, and all the kinds of people the DEI policy helped. Emily Singer of Kos reported on Buttigieg’s response, posted on X.

Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.

Buttigieg also said the nasty guy bears part of the blame. He had succumbed to Musk’s demands to fire the head of the FAA because he fined Musk’s company SpaceX. So at the time of the crash there was no head to the FAA. Singer included a tweet by Vince Monroy about a moment in the press conference:

Reporter: You blamed the diversity elements but then told us you weren’t sure that the controllers made any mistakes. Trump: It’s all under investigation. Reporter: That’s why I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.

Singer also noted the new Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seem quite unprepared to handle the situation. And that’s because they’re quite unqualified for their new jobs. Singer also reported that staffing at the control tower at Reagan National was low. Note above that Buttigieg said he “grew Air Traffic Control” which is still below what it should be, though getting staffing up to where it should be takes time. Singer discussed what we face if the DOGE group is able to shrink the government workforce as they say they want to. Too few air traffic controllers would lead to flight delays, fewer flights, higher prices, and less safe skies. Too few Food and Drug Administration inspectors would lead to unsafe food and contaminated drugs. Too few Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors would lead to more workplace injuries and deaths. Getting passports, Social Security cards, and payment for Medicaid and Medicare claims would take longer. We’ve had one big pandemic, gutting the National Institute of Health could mean a second one. And a whole lot more government services would be interrupted. Liam Clymer of Pridesource offers guidelines on how to keep yourself safe when protesting. His tips are from LGBTQ advocates. The tips are offered because LGBTQ people can be especially targeted by counterprotesters. I’ll mention the tips and let you read the article for details. Research the event and understand its goals. Know the situation and what voices will be raised against yours. Practice self-care. Know your limits. Don’t wear anything that would let others think your intentions are violent. You may also want to protect your identity to prevent doxxing, which might mean wearing a COVID style mask. Take water, snacks, fully charged phone, and ID. If you use Face ID to unlock your phone turn it off. With Face ID police may feel emboldened to pressure you into unlocking your phone. Use a digit-based code. Observe your environment for danger from those who want to escalate the protest and from police. Move to minimize risk. Have a buddy, both outside of the protest and within. When someone tries to escalate remain calm with your voice steady. Avoid provocative behavior that others might interpret as leading to escalation or violence. If necessary, remove yourself. Learn from the elders and veterans at meetings beforehand and at the event. Know your rights. You have a right to demonstrate in public places and to photograph anything, including police, that’s in plain view. Identify where the protest marshals are. Also, medics and who has water supplies. Make sure the marginalized (such as trans people) are included and their voices heard. Write the number of a lawyer on your arm. See Michigan Legal Help and ACLU. If detained try to write down police names, badge and patrol car numbers, and the agency they work for. Also record and take pictures of injuries. Use social media to amplify the message of the protest. In a Cheers and Jeers column from a week ago Bill in Portland, Maine of Kos included his usual late night commentary.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen: it happened. Donald Trump is president again. I have an important announcement to make: for the next four years we get to live by airport rules: calories don’t count, and it's perfectly reasonable to have a vodka tonic at 8am." —Stephen Colbert

And more late night commentary from today.

"A new report shows that since last year the price of eggs has risen more than 35 percent, due to a shortage caused by new laws in red states that force chickens to carry their eggs to term." —Michael Che

Money to power to hapless government to despair to strongmen

Pien Huang of NPR reported that Richard B Hayes had died. He was a Duke Divinity School professor emeritus, best known for his book, “The Moral Vision Of The New Testament” published in 1996. Since one chapter dealt with same-sex relationships in Christianity it was used as grounds to exclude LGBTQ people from the church, which is not what Hayes intended. Huang played excerpts of an NPR interview with Hayes from last September when his book “The Widening Of God's Mercy” came out. In this book he and his son Chris Hayes argue differently than that earlier book. In the earlier book Hayes said that LGBTQ people should be welcome in the church, but should remain celibate. When he saw how that was misread and then weaponized he began to rethink his position. In the new book he says LGBTQ people should be fully embraced by the church. Huang said:

Hays argued that the Bible shows how God's mercy is ever expanding to include more people but that followers can be too caught up in the letter of the law and miss the spirit of God's commandments.

From the recording Hayes discussed a story in the Gospel of Mark. Pharisees are watching to see if Jesus will heal on the Sabbath, a conflict between compassion and Jewish laws. Hayes said:

They're operating with a deep intention to be obedient to God's law, but Jesus is grieved at their hardness of heart. Now, I think we see things like that happening over and over in the stories of the Bible and that the desire of God is for healing and inclusion of more and more people and that the rigid attempt at obedience actually is operating contrary to God's will.

A week ago Kos of Daily Kos discussed why many progressives seem to be shrugging their shoulders with this nasty guy inauguration. That’s quite the contrast to 2017 when liberals took their outrage to the streets in resistance.

We just haven’t seen an outpouring of liberal anger, and the reason is clear: We warned Americans about what would happen if Trump was reelected, and they didn’t listen. They believed Trump’s lies about Harris, refused to believe him about his plans, and ushered in the dumbest, most incompetent president in history back into office. We’re not angry. We’re shrugging our shoulders, saying, “You f---ed around. Having fun finding out.” ... Obviously, lots of Democrats will still suffer under the Trump administration, but his own voters will likely bear the brunt of it—and that takes some of the sting out of Harris’ loss. It’s easier to suffer the consequences when we see his own voters (as well as nonvoters) realize the error of their ways.

Kos noted that many of the projects from the Inflation Reduction Act went to red states. Biden tried to help them and they turned him down. Kos also noted the nasty guy surrounded himself with working-class people at his rallies. But at his inauguration he put tech bros worth $1 trillion in the front row.

So it totally makes sense liberals aren’t as angry as we were in 2017. Back then, we assumed the American people were bamboozled, or that Hillary Clinton was a bad candidate, or something something. But now? People knew exactly what they were voting for, and they will suffer for it. And yes, that makes our own suffering more bearable.

The next day Kos wrote about mind-boggling reactions to the nasty guy. These are people who voted for him and then are surprised when he does something they don’t like. An example is a person who is Hispanic and is surprised that the nasty guy talks about deporting Mexicans. Or how did a person hear the nasty guy claim he will lower gas prices (which he can’t do), but didn’t hear his racism. We need to understand how that happened. Eleven days ago vjr7121 of the Kos community discussed the after-election review written by Sen. Bernie Sanders. There are also excerpts of other things Sanders has written along with some discussion. Some of the ideas: Democratic leadership is defending the status quo. Americans are angry and want change. That’s how Democrats lost the working-class, the people who are supposed to be the base of the party.

Sanders has tapped into the frustration of American voters who see the top 1% in control of 30% of all the nation’s wealth— and the gap is growing. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut not particularly known as the most progressive member of the Democratic establishment agreed with Sanders:

“...when progressives like Bernie aggressively go after the elites that hold people down, they are shunned as dangerous populists. Why? Maybe because true economic populism is bad for our high-income base.”

Part of the way out of this is for Democrats to grapple with the true meaning of the word “populist.” Both Sanders and the nasty guy use it to describe themselves and their policies, yet the nasty guy’s policies and actions aren’t populist. Democrats need to highlight that the nasty guy is lying. Democrats should also highlight which of their candidates are actual populists. Recently these have included Tim Walz, Pete Buttigieg, Stacy Abrams, and Sanders. They have authentic working class credentials. And the should follow Sanders in talking about taxing the rich not as socialism, but as fairness. They should use terms that show the practical nature of the policies rather than making policies sound abstract.

Whether Democrats can abandon the allure of the donor class is the real test. Money and its proximity to power is a recipe for corruption. Compromise and bipartisanship should not be the ultimate goals of governance. Sometimes compromise is used to avert solutions and to slow reform. And bipartisanship can often be purchased at great cost. The first two years of the Biden administration were marked by the political need and Biden’s preference for bipartisan agreement. The process was infuriating and led to a belief in the ineffectual nature of government. The courting of bipartisan support made the administration seem weak despite its accomplishments because debated in public, the results appeared to be half-measures. A divided government best serves those who resist change and progress. Progressives in the Democratic Party have been characterized by some in the media as extremists as if to equate them with the right-wing extremists within the MAGA movement. The characterization feeds a misconception that freedom and inequity can somehow coexist within a liberal Democracy. They can’t. Those of us on the left have a right to be angry and frustrated as our rights are placed in jeopardy. The “populist” pretensions adopted by the Republican right mask their economic predilections that in so many ways hurt those it has lured into its trap.

angryea of the Kos community posed the question “Does capitalism inevitably lead to fascism?” Here are some of the problems of capitalism: It is fine with allowing someone to starve to death if they don’t find employment. The idea of a free market is that it treats people fairly. But that notion leaves out power dynamics. Capitalism always produces costs generated by the business but paid by the society. Examples are pollution and people paid too little to afford to live, which strains charities and government services. These costs should be paid through taxes, but capitalists hate paying taxes. People with money inevitably attempt to meddle in politics. They work to weaken anti-trust laws, labor laws, and the social safety net.

That in turn leads to society becoming harder to live in for most people. And that in turn leads to anger, resentment, and fear, all of which are fertile breeding ground for authoritarianism. Because if the normal workings of government have been neutered, why would people believe that normal politics works? Why wouldn’t they believe that a strong man has all the answers, especially if he or she has a ready scapegoat that the majority already distrusts or is biased against? In theory, this could work for the left, but targeting the power of capital is difficult when capital is powering your election funds. So, money leads to power leads to inefficient or helpless government leads to despair leads to turning to strongmen solutions leads to the effective end of liberal democracy.

This is not a promotion of communism. Communist nations may look good on paper, elections and all that, but are authoritarian nightmares. So when are we going to talk about the dangers of capitalism and protect our democracy from it? I actually read through the comments. Several suggested that highly regulated capitalism isn’t a problem. However, I know (and others mentioned) that when some people get a little bit rich they start meddling in politics to get the regulations loosened. They ask for only a little bit at a time and work over a long timeline. I can trace our current situation to the Reagan tax cuts in 1981, more than 40 years ago. Rich people went from having a bit more to having a lot more and could meddle in more ways. Many corporations declare their home to be in Delaware because many decades ago rich people convinced the state legislature to loosen the rules. The attempt was made in many states and Delaware did it first. Not at all surprising: Emily Singer of Kos reported that Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a bill that would ban medicated abortion nationwide. He is joined by 18 other House Republicans. Also not a surprise: Back in 2022 Ogles denied that if elected he would work to pass a national ban. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Matt Johnson of The Bulwark speaking of nasty guy nominees:

In truth, it would be a relief if [Robert] Kennedy and [Tulsi] Gabbard were merely grossly unqualified. The deeper issue is that Kennedy and Gabbard are anti-qualified. The only conceivable reason to elevate them to the top of the United States’s public health apparatus and intelligence services is to destroy the agencies they have been selected to run.

Russel Berman of The Atlantic discussing the nasty guy’s freeze on parts of federal spending, which has since been rescinded.

Democrats and government watchdogs see the directives as an opening salvo in a fight over the separation of powers, launched by a president bent on defying Congress’s will. “It’s an illegal executive order, and it’s stealing,” Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, told me, referring to the order targeting the IRA and infrastructure law. Withholding money approved by Congress “undermines the entire architecture of the Constitution,” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told me. “It essentially makes the president into a king.” Last night, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans “blatantly disobeys the law.”

In the comments exlrrp posted a meme, a takeoff of a well known poem.

First the came for the immigrants and I spoke up because we’ve all heard this f**ing story before!

Erik Larsen posted a cartoon by Will Santino showing St. Peter at the gates of heaven looking through the book of life and talking to an approaching man:

Says here you went to church your whole life and loudly proclaimed yourself a Christian, but worshipped rich people, hated the downtrodden, and cheered for cruelty. Like what the f--- man?”

Trying to oversaturate us with nonstop chaos

My Sunday movie was Nowhere Special. It was of interest to me because it shows a man taking care of a child. John is a single man, caregiver of his son Michael, about three years old. John clearly loves his son and does a pretty good job of caring for him and giving him a happy life. But John has only a few months to live. He is working with an adoption agency and he and the case worker interview prospective parents. None of them seem quite right, several are definitely wrong. And John agonizes over the decision as he recognizes he is running out of time. John must also figure out how to prepare Michael. The case worker proposes a memory box, an idea he resists. Why can’t Michael just seamlessly fit into a new family? Yeah, there is that sad ending. However, watching John care for his son was a joy. The IMDb trivia page says before filming started James Norton, who played John, often visited the bedroom of Daniel Lamont, who played Michael, and the two played with Daniel’s toys. That established a bond that came through in the acting. IMDb also says the movie is based on a true story, though the real father and son remain anonymous. The story takes place in Northern Ireland. I’m intrigued that it was a co-production with Romania and Italy and much of the crew was from those countries. Sen. Chris Murphy tweeted a thread, starting with:

Look, Trump is trying to oversaturate us with nonstop chaos so we can’t react meaningfully to any one thing.

Murphy then detailed one of those things, the freeze on foreign aid. He details how dumb and deadly that will be. Over a few days I accumulated many browser tabs, several of them related to deportation. In a pundit roundup for Daily Kos Greg Dworkin included a tweet by Keith Boykin that was also a link to an article in the New Republic.

About 75% of immigrant farm workers did not show up for work this week in Bakersfield, California, as the threat of Trump’s immigration raids looms. Trump’s immigration threats are already wrecking the food industry. Immigrant farm workers are too scared to show up for work.

In the comments of another roundup, this one by Chitown Kev of Kos, exlrrp posted a meme with the words, “Make America Great Again Patriots Wanted. Civic Duty Volunteers needed to pick crops.” Also in the comments is a cartoon by Chris Britt showing a church with the nasty guy in the front row and the rest filled with sleepy national media. Coming down the aisle is Bishop Mariann Budde saying, “Let me show you how it’s done.” In the main body of the roundup Kev quoted Heather Cox Richardson of her “Letters From an American” Substack on the firing of 15 Inspectors General from federal government departments. I’ll summarize: It’s one of the items in Project 2025. Florida Patriot of the Kos community wrote that things could get bad really quickly, as in over a month. The reason is that immigrants are afraid to show up for work. We’ll notice it first in food, as immigrants do a lot of the harvesting. And the harvest has a definite time limit – don’t harvest the crop and it rots. Immigrants also clean offices and hotels and wash restaurant dishes. And a lot of other things in our economy.

Now these folks are terrified, and for good reason. No city or state is safe. The raids are random, here, there, potentially anywhere. The risk is real. Not just for the undocumented, but for anyone who looks Hispanic and who works these dirty essential jobs. America may be about to discover just how essential these workers are to the very fabric of our economy. Imagine what happens if supply chains grind to a halt. Grocery store shelves empty out. Panic buying ensues. Panic selling tears through the stock market.

Kos of Kos wrote that Nebraska went heavily for the nasty guy and is more dependent on immigrant labor than most other states. It also has a severe labor shortage. The nasty guy’s deportation could ruin the economy in a state that strongly supports him. Also, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen will support deportation efforts while others doubt the deportation threats can actually be carried out. Back before Musk bought Twitter and turned it into the far right hellhole of X I used to regularly read Leah McElrath and include her wisdom in my writing. I stopped when Musk no longer let non members (and I refused to be a member) look at more than individual posts. McElrath has now shifted to Bluesky and I can read her wisdom again. I’ve got a bunch of her posts in tabs waiting for a day I can include them. In a thread she wrote:

People on TikTok are reporting ICE raids happening in small cities in various states. To get past algorithmic censorship, they’re writing down the information on paper and holding up and shuffling through the handwritten signs as they talk about pretend subjects like shopping, food, and animals. ... To be clear, I don’t know if these reports of ICE raids are correct. ICE raids happen, they happened before Trump, and it’s plausible they’re happening now. IF the reports are correct, the scale is unknown. My impression is these youths are presenting word-of-mouth information they believe is true.

Morgan Stephens of Kos reported that Attorneys General in Democratic states are suing to stop the nasty guy’s threat to prosecute state and local officials who don’t help with deportation. The AGs say Constitutional limits on federal authority and Supreme Court rulings say the federal government cannot commandeer state resources to enforce federal laws. Kos community member howabout me noticed something about the first few days of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. They were all in blue states. Well, one was in Salt Lake City, whose recent senator was Mitt Romney, someone the nasty guy doesn’t like. So why hasn’t ICE done big raids red states? They’re likely to find a lot more immigrants in places like Tampa, Dallas, and meatpacking plants in Montana. Alix Breeden of Kos reported the numbers of people being deported isn’t meeting the targets the nasty guy wants. Also, one raid included Dr. Phil McGraw – talk show host Dr. Phil – with cameras rolling. That means the raids so far are for PR purposes, for the nasty guy to boast – and to make immigrants feel afraid. Another post by McElrath quoting, I think, Shannon Heffernan who mentioned the Dr. Phil incident:

“How do we share…information…without…becoming part of spectacle” is an important question for journalists, but I’d adjust it to “without becoming a propaganda service for Trump and heightening racism.” Trump creates these spectacles because his supporters get off on and are emboldened by them. For example, the deportation rate under Trump during his first week in office (≈1k people) was in the range of the averages during the Obama and Biden admins. The difference is Trump is highlighting the actions through news media so it makes him look “tougher” on immigration to his supporters.

Breeden also noted that there was a raid on Native American workers. Also that many deported are being treated in a demoralizing manner. That last part is reported by Brazilian officials complaining about “blatant disrespect.” Alex Samuels of Kos reported on something that was reported in wider news. Colombia did not allow two US military planes with deportees to land. Colombia President Gustavo Petro objected to migrants being treated as criminals and wanted the deportees returned in civilian planes. The nasty guy threatened tariffs. Petro threatened retaliatory tariffs, then backed down. Of course, the nasty guy bragged of his dominance. In a second post Samuels said it wasn’t that simple. Petro got a significant concession – Colombia supplied its own air force jets to pick up the deportees. They could travel in dignity, without handcuffs. Lalo Alcaraz posted a cartoon on Kos showing a native person pointing to an ICE agent and saying, “Show me your papers!” At some time the nasty guy said he could tell a criminal immigrant “by the look.” Pedro Molina posted a cartoon on Kos showing on one side a person picking apples labeled “Criminal” and on the other side one person stomping on another and labeled “Hero.” Kos of Kos looked at the daily arrest numbers that ICE is bragging about. The average over four days is 600 a day. That’s lower than Biden’s average of 744 a day. If the nasty guy kept to that average over his four years in the Oval Office he’ll manage to deport less than one million of the 11 million he says need deporting. Which means so far the raids are mostly PR, to be able to brag to his base. If he really wanted to get those number up – 1,200 to 1,500 a day being the goal – he’d have to increase raids in red states. And that would decimate the economies of his base and raise food prices across the country. In the comments of a third pundit roundup exlrrp posted a meme that looks like the cover of a cookbook with the title: “How to cook like the people you just deported, authentic ethnic flavors for bigots who don’t deserve them.”

What the world says should make you happy

A recent episode of Hidden Brain on NPR discussed the problem of the way we are living our lives when that conflicts with our deepest values. How can we live our most authentic lives? Host Shankar Vedantam talked this over with University of Missouri, psychologist Ken Sheldon, who studies how to pursue how to make yourself happy. Sheldon experienced first hand the problem of trying a job and field of study and still not know what he wanted to do. And while he was flailing others expected him to start using his college degree. He eventually studied psychology and a professor helped him realize the hard question “wasn’t figuring out how to get where you were going, it was in figuring out where you wanted to go.” We often select the wrong goals, goals that don’t lead to lasting happiness. People don’t understand what makes them happy. We listen to voices that tell us what we should want. This is why the episode is interesting to me: Those voices tell us that money, power, and status are what indicate a successful life. These voices are frequent and insistent. We encounter them most frequently in advertising urging us to buy stuff and this stuff will bestow status. So we have a tendency to give it a try. The second loudest voices are parents with assists from teachers and friends. But even parents may not understand what makes us happy. Parents can also push the status message that their child should become a doctor. They think pushing that is the way to love their child. Sheldon worked with Lawrence Krieger, law professor at Florida State University who wanted to understand why some of his best students burned out. They found the students with the highest grades in the first year of law school were given the highest status. Student efforts shifted from earning good grades to maintaining their high status. Their motivation shifted from idealism to self-centeredness. Vedantam said:

Here was a set of ideas to explain why people found it hard, why Ken himself had found it hard, to figure out what to do with his life. By the time a person is in their early 20s and is making important decisions about careers and relationships, they've had a good two decades of indoctrination. Indoctrination from the culture which tells them what's worth striving for and what is not. Indoctrination from parents and well-wishers who have told them what is high status and what is not. And indoctrination from schools that often take passion and enthusiasm for a subject and turn it into a race for grades, certificates, and academic honors. The irony is the better one does at each stage, the harder it becomes to ask if you are actually doing what it is you want to do. Soon, the systems of carrots and sticks that guides us through adolescence and youth is now driving us through our careers. In one study of 6,000 practicing lawyers, Ken found that many of these professionals prioritize things that the world had decided should make them happy, often at the expense of things that actually made them happy.

The world was telling them what would make them happy is money, power, and status. Saying that in a way I’ve used many times in this blog, they’re told what makes them happy is a high place in the social hierarchy. Sheldon said about the studies he did:

We were looking at everything about lawyers that we could think of that might affect their wellbeing, that most people would think are most important. Like, how much money do they make? How high status is their job or did they make partner? But we also included these more psychological variables that we thought would be more important. Like, do they enjoy and believe in what they're doing? Do they feel like they're making a contribution to the world in what they're doing? What we found was that yes, in fact income correlated with happiness, but it was a pretty small effect, a surprisingly small effect. A much larger effect was their motivation for doing the job. Was it something they wanted to do, they believed in it, they felt like they were contributing to the world by doing it? And that was a much larger determinant of how happy a person they were.

They talk about intrinsic motivation, doing something is its own reward. It comes from the inside. That’s different from extrinsic motivation, doing something one doesn’t like because of what one gets from doing it, the reward. It comes from the outside. Alas, intrinsic motivation is fragile. Adding external rewards to intrinsic motivation can destroy it. You may like puzzles – until someone pays you to solve them. Intrinsic motivation is spoiled when a child is paid for grades, given a bump in allowance to take piano lessons, or given a scholarship to play a sport. When intrinsic motivation is destroyed, it can stay destroyed for decades. Sheldon says that scholarship can ruin the love of a sport because the player feels forced to perform to keep the scholarship. They feel controlled. They felt criticized when they had a bad day. Figuring out what we want to do can be hard because our minds hold limited information, and much of that is people telling us what we should be doing. What we need to consult is in the unconscious. And, no, the unconscious is not just the Freudian “nasty stuff.” The goal is to align the conscious and unconscious. To do that Sheldon looked at creativity (his dissertation project). Start by asking yourself a question to which you don’t know the answer. Then think of something else. After a time of incubation you get an inspiration. This may, and may not, be the answer to the question posed. I’ve done this kind of thing when working on a music composition. To help understand what one wants to do with their life the questions to ask can be, “Why am I unhappy? What do I really want?” It is consciously posing the questions that helps the unconscious to relay a solution. Then the solution must be tested. Many of us have spent a lifetime suppressing these subtle thoughts. Mindfulness meditation can help access those thoughts, though it also helps to shut up and listen. Few of us actually ask ourselves the important questions. Once we ask, we don’t listen to what the unconscious says or don’t verify it or don’t act on it. Sheldon noted once we’ve made a choice to act, we no longer question the decision. Now we make plans. Vedantam added we also amass evidence to support the conclusion we’ve made. But if we feel dissonance we should go back to the deliberation point. When achieving a goal is hard and can take a long time, such as hiking the 2600 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, intrinsic motivation can wane. It can be replaced by equally positive identified motivation. This is when something is meaningful and expresses our values. We believe in the journey. Sheldon concluded:

We are self programming organisms. We are creating our lives via our choices, but we are not taught how to do it well. Not taught how to ask ourselves the questions that will get us the answers that we need.

You cut off the art, you cut off the soul

Kos of Daily Kos discussed how much the nasty guy idolized and seemed to be controlled by Putin of Russia. Things are changing.

Yet a funny thing has happened. Trump slobbered over Putin, believing that he and Russia are strong and mighty, serving as an example for his own imperialist and undemocratic designs. But Russia is not strong and mighty. In fact, Russia has run out of tools to prop up its failing economy. And out-of-control inflation, sky-high interest rates, and lower global energy prices have put Putin in a precarious position. Somehow, Trump noticed this, and his disdain couldn’t be clearer. We just might have somehow lucked into a pro-Ukraine Trump presidency.

The disdain shows up in the nasty guy’s tweets and calls for Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Kos quoted a passage. I won’t. Kos goes into why Russia’s economy is so bad. Putin has used up resources needed to pay for the war and inflation is now high. His groveling before Kim of North Korea for war aid doesn’t help his image. China seems hesitant to invest in Russia, but wants the war to continue because that keeps Western eyes off Taiwan. So the nasty guy might become pro-Ukraine. Some Republicans might too. Kos says if he really wants to make a difference in that war he should give Ukraine the long range weapons Biden wouldn’t. Morgan Stephens of Kos wrote that a memo from the Department of Justice shows how the nasty guy intends to force sanctuary cities and states to comply with his deportation agenda. Having the DoJ carry it out (rather than Homeland Security?) seems to be the plan. And this may be why:

The memo asserts that state and local officials must comply with the department under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, otherwise they could face criminal prosecution or civil violation charges. “Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” the memo said. “The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”

Stephens offers a bit of hope:

On Tuesday, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who has been a vocal Republican critic of Trump, shared some profound advice on how to handle the president. “If you stand up to Trump you intimidate him and he will back down,” he wrote on Bluesky. “If you crawl to him (like his sycophantic politicians) he will not respect you and will eventually throw you under the bus.”

I hope Democrats are able to acquire spine strengtheners. There are weaknesses to be exploited. Congress has passed the Laken Riley Act with several Democrats voting for it (which is several too many). The nasty guy will no doubt sign it. The act says that if an undocumented person is accused of a crime they should be detained for deportation. Walter Einenkel of Kos has a few things to say about that bill and deportations. Pardoning the 1500 criminals who attacked the Capitol has blown up the reason for deportations to “keep criminals off the street.” Back to the bill. Note the word accused. That means noncitizens may lose the right to due process. Another source said a landlord could use the threat of an accusation to keep noncitizen renters in line (as in over charging them or under maintaining the property).

"So when a private prison camp opens in your town and they say ‘we didn't know this was going to happen,’ know that they did, and they voted for it,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “When a dreamer is disappeared from your classroom, when the president of the United States destroys what is left of the Constitution—as he's announced in his attack on birthright citizenship—they will all say, ‘we didn't know this was coming,’” she concluded. “And I want the American people to know that they did. This vote represents it."

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted the Harvard Business Review’s article on how deportations could be disastrous to the US food supply.

Most people probably assume the undocumented group is unskilled labor, but our interviews with four growers with operations in Florida and California and people at industry associations suggest the opposite. “We would lose a lot of our skilled workers,” said one California strawberry grower. “Some of our more skilled people have been here for 20 or 30 years, and they speak English.” One profile that he shared was that of a highly skilled supervisor who makes important daily decisions on planting and harvesting. Another was a skilled mechanic. A third was a crew boss with decades of experience. “These are people who came over in the mid-1980s and 1990s. They have been paying taxes and social security, but they never went through the citizenship process,” the grower said. Labor was 40% of his costs, and Trump’s statements have filled these workers and their employers with anxiety over their uncertain futures.

Dworkin also included a tweet by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick:

Leaked documents from the Trump admin show that ICE wants four new detention centers with 10,000 beds each, and fourteen smaller facilities with 700-1,000 beds each. That would likely mean tens of billions in taxpayer funds sent to private prison companies. They are salivating.

Reichlin-Melnick also included a tweet by Aaron Rupar:

AOC: “I want folks at home to look at what members of Congress are invested in private prison companies, and look at the votes on this bill. It is atrocious that people are lining their pockets with private prison profits in the name of a horrific tragedy.”

In the comments are memes and cartoons to share. A cartoon by Matt Reuter showing a man talking to his wife while pointing to the weather app on his phone, “It says it’s nineteen degrees out, but the general lack of empathy in our current political climate is making it feel colder.” A cartoon by Mike Luckovich showing a woman and man encountering several men labeled “GOP” lying on the ground. She asks “Where’re your spines?” A man on the ground responds, “Trump’s insurrectionists needed ’em to beat cops with.” A cartoon by RJ Matson shows a truck with an elephant driving. In the bed looks like manure labeled “Jan. 6 blanket pardons.” On the tailgate are “The Party of Law and Order” and “Back the Blue.” A cop has stopped the truck and is saying, “I’m going to have to ask you to remove those bumper stickers.” From a meme posted by Middle Age Riot:

Donald Trump: I will pardon the January 6 rioters. Police Unions: We endorse Donald Trump. Donald Trump: I have pardoned the January 6 rioters. Police Unions: What?

A cartoon posted by paulpro (author not displayed) shows a person with a rainbow shirt on the ground as three men beat the person with their bibles, creating a pool of blood. The caption says, “If your religion makes you hate someone, you need a new religion.” When I wrote about Bishop Mariann Budde yesterday I misspelled her name – I was working from a source that misspelled it. This is the correct spelling. A meme posted by exlrrp shows that I had written about her before for doing something quite loving.

Did you know that for 25 years, Matthew Shepard, who was brutally tortured and murdered for being gay, had no permanent resting place due to concerns his grave would be vandalized, and when Reverend Budde learned of this, she invited the Shepards to inter him inside the Washington National Cathedral. She co-officiated the service that welcomed Matthew to a forever home in the church and told the gathering, “20 years of mourning was not enough for someone who is loved. Nor can 20 years heal the grief of such a loss.”

My admiration grows. I’ve been involved with the Reconciling Ministries Network for close to two decades. They’re the group working to make the United Methodist Church more inclusive of LGBTQ people. Many conservative congregations have left. The current denomination rules are much better, though they say a congregation can fully include LGBTQ people, but that they don’t have to. So more work needs to be done. I still get their email newsletter and I’m planning to attend their next convocation this summer. Of course RMN is aware of the political climate and in today’s email has things to keep in mind: + The chaos and terror are the point. They’re designed to make us feel afraid and alone. We’re afraid because the harm is real. But we are not alone. Pastors are preaching courageously to soften hearts of stone. You are worth fighting for. + In times of crisis humans come together. Love recklessly and fiercely. We get creative about resistance and don’t let despair have the last word. + Take lessons from those who’ve experienced apocalypse before, the ones who’ve been through colonialism, political uprisings, natural disasters, genocide, food scarcity, and silencing. + We get free when we all get free. Look to the intersections of your communities. + Do not cancel one another so swiftly that no one is left standing in your circle. Practice gratitude and extend grace. We need one another. Brittany Luse of NPR talked to Colman Domingo, the star of the moving Sing Sing, which just received a few Oscar nominations. Much of the rest of the cast is real-life formerly incarcerated actors. The story is about incarcerated people working together to stage an original musical. Last week it was rereleased and this second time it will be screened in more than a thousand prisons. Luse noted the movie shows examples of healthy masculinity, the men are vulnerable with each other. Domingo explains that to create anything together, including something artistic, people have to leave behind something personal to gain something communal. One thing to leave behind is ego.

LUSE: The other thing that I noticed too is the film - it reminded me how masculinity is not necessarily always inherently defined but enforced. And the way that the men in the film communicated with each other enforced vulnerability as a value and did not enforce that those things made you weak or less than or deserved social punishment. DOMINGO: That - what you just said there was the light bulb for all of us as we were exploring making this film. These men are saying that this is part of our survival, to have all of these feelings, to have all this softness and tenderness. And it has nothing to do with sexuality whatsoever. It's more about mental health. It's about being good and kind to yourself and acknowledging your feelings and acknowledging your heartache, acknowledging your trauma, acknowledging what you feel.

Domingo added they hold each other accountable to actually be vulnerable, to say it’s OK, go there. The men also understood the necessity of art. Domingo said:

I remember when I first started out, I was touring around to junior high schools and high schools performing. And I would note that arts programs were severely cut. The first things to go - art. I thought, why is that? Well, I grew up with arts programs. Why is that? I mean, you cut off the art, you cut off the soul. You cut off people understanding how to be human with each other. You cut that out of schools, there's - I feel like there's a path to the prison industrial complex. Art is not frivolous. Art connects us, and we need it in our society. We need it in our schools. You know, a lot of these men who went through this program, they say, you know, if I had something like this growing up, I probably would never have been here. I would have another way to get out what was inside of me.

Elect a convicted felon, expect a crime spree

The traumatic nonsense from the nasty guy is coming thick and fast. I’m not going to be able to keep up. There are things I won’t have time to write about and things I will mention only briefly. Please don’t rely on me to be a news service. I intend to have a life outside this blog. In addition to the news there is commentary I want to share. So sometimes I’d rather share the commentary than the news. So I’ll start with some thing I’ll mention briefly. Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos reported the nasty guy has overturned some of Biden’s “sensitive locations” where Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not allowed to arrest people. So immigrants are no longer safe in “domestic violence shelters, food banks, counseling facilities, and disaster response centers” and now also “places of worship, hospitals, and schools.” So there will be no more stories of churches hosting an immigrant who cannot leave a church building while waiting for a change in their status.

While Trump might not be able to deport tens of millions of people as he promised, he is certainly keeping true to his promise to terrorize Americans and their families.

Oliver Willis of Kos reported in 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order that reinforced the requirement that federal contractors not discriminate in who they employed. The nasty guy has now rescinded that order. He called the order “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” If you don’t understand how that wording by itself is actually discriminatory you need to read up on race relations. And Johnson’s order wasn’t illegal. Kash Patel is nominated to lead the FBI. The New York Times reported Patel benefited from a DEI program in 2003 as part of a judicial Intern Opportunity Program. Yeah, Patel rose to prominence through a program the nasty guy is undermining. Emily Singer of Kos reported:

Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday ordered federal health agencies to cease all public-facing communication, The Washington Post reported, a move that will leave Americans in the dark about everything from viral outbreaks to the spread of possible food-borne illnesses.

This comes as bird flu has mutated, causing a big outbreak, which is causing an egg shortage and a spike in egg prices. So far the current variety of bird flu hasn’t jumped human to human, but the larger the outbreak the more likely that will happen. My friend and debate partner had lunch together yesterday. We both had egg dishes. The price for them in that restaurant hadn’t gone up – yet. We briefly discussed the likelihood of a pandemic while the nasty guy is in office and agreed that is likely. That pandemic could be based around bird flu – it is in the news a lot – though a pandemic could be based on something else – COVID was in the news less than six months before shutdowns hit America. Singer reported that the nasty guy stated his plan to end the war on Ukraine. He said if Russia doesn’t make a deal soon the US will impose tariffs on Russia. Tiny problem with that plan. Because of Russia’s invasion the US imports from Russia has already dropped by 90% and in 2024 was only $2.9 billion. Threatening tariffs will have no impact on Russia. Yesterday I quoted a tweet by Jack Jenkins and wondered what prompted it. The quote:

Kinda seems like a whole lotta people found out for the first time today that there's a very large, very vibrant progressive wing of Christianity (and religion in general).

Today I was reminded of something in the news and immediately though, oh yes of course, that. That something was mentioned in today’s Cheers and Jeers column by Bill in Portland, Maine for Kos. It was words from Bishop Marann Edgar Budde at the inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral.

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” said Budde, who was looking directly at the president. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families. Some who fear for their lives.” "They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues."

I think the nasty guy declared she was mean to him and demanded an apology. Just after I wrote that my friend and debate partner sent me an email making the same connection to yesterday’s quote. He added, “Rather than any apology, she will likely send him a renewed invitation to be counseled.” In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev included several photos and discussion of the snow in New Orleans, a Sneauxpocalypse. Yeah, early this week (likely when we in the northern states were looking at thermometers that said 0F or lower) New Orleans – well, Houston to Pensacola – got 8-11 inches (20-28 cm) of snow. They got in one storm about what we in the north have gotten so far this entire season. Minneapolis has seen 9.8 inches. One of the photos is a video of a guy playing ice hockey on Canal St. Between the photos of snow are: A quote discussing the nasty guy’s executive order banning birthright citizenship as an attempt to rewrite the Constitution, which will be a test of the federal judiciary. They have also been rewriting the Constitution through eliminating the ban on insurrectionists running for office and inventing presidential immunity. A discussion of bird flu and egg prices. A discussion of Bishop Budde’s words. In the comments are several memes and cartoons worth mentioning, starting with one by Rev. Benjamin Cremer referring to Budde’s speech:

If your Christianity causes you to be offended by someone asking the most powerful person in the country to be merciful towards the powerless, they have profoundly misunderstood the teachings of Jesus Christ.

A meme posted by exlrrp:

How can it be legal for a president to launch a cryptocurrency days before he moves into the White House? This is a lifelong career criminal that stole America’s secrets last time. The entire presidency was a fraud. The presidency in America is now a criminal enterprise. Elect a convicted felon, expect a crime spree.

Another meme posted by exlrrp:

16 of the 26 executive orders Trump signed on Day One were ripped straight from the pages of Project 2025. Project 2025 was always the MAGA agenda!” – Robert Reich, Economist.

A cartoon by John Auchter posted by Michigan Public shows two men at a bar with the barman nearby.

Man 1: Can you believe how bad the government in California screwed up the wildfires?! Man 2: Idiots! Incompetent morons – all of ‘em! Barman: Well, the the obvious question is – What would you guys suggest we do right now in Michigan to prevent future disasters here? [The men look at each other] Man 1: Um... Cut taxes? Man 2: Invade Greenland? Barman: Uh-huh...

A cartoon by Paul Noth shows a bald eagle saying, “Lately I just don’t seem much point in symbolizing anything.” And much further down The Geogre posting an excerpt from Will Weissert of AP titled, “Trump Canceled Biden’s Ethics Rules.” Hunter of the Kos community wrote that the nasty guy has already committed an impeachable act – the pardoning of those who committed violent crimes during the Capitol attack coup attempt. He also told the Department of Justice they must drop investigations into anyone else who did violence inside the Capitol that day.

Donald Trump is a criminal who orchestrated a violent insurrection rather than allow his monumental ego to be dented by the same election loss that every other political figure experiences as a matter of course. He is a seditionist. He is a traitor to his country, to democracy, and to the rule of law. And he remains so, whether a coordinated effort by media companies and billionaires to memory-hole his indictments, convictions, and laundry list of crimes returns him to power or not.

Republicans in Congress may condemn the nasty guy, though likely not. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is whether they remove him from office. Or not. They are against terrorism or for it. There is nothing between. There is no debate here, like there might be of a president accepting foreign bribes. Those who commit terrorism will be immunized from justice, a Get Out Of Jail Free card. He has sanctioned domestic terrorism in the future and is making sure it will happen.

We know what will happen. It will not be a surprise; from historians to political theorists to Trump's own former inner circle, there is no longer any doubt that The Criminal intends to dismantle the rule of law so that he and anyone who bows deeply enough to be considered his temporary ally can do crimes with impunity. We know that almost to a person, every Republican official will fall over themselves to justify and celebrate those crimes. It has already begun; Trump has freed those who tried to kill lawmakers and end our democracy.

His actions prove he was the head conspirator of the Capitol attack. That makes his action a high crime, an insult to the Constitution so bad it should not be tolerated, and worthy of impeachment. Hunter says drawing up articles of impeachment is highly likely. More articles would be drawn up when the military is sent into US cities to shoot protesters. Once those articles of impeachment are drawn up, any member of Congress who votes against them or votes against convicting has shown they are also a terrorist.

There are those who believe that violence enacted for the sake of keeping or expanding political power is so unforgivable and anti-American an act that its perpetrators must be removed from power regardless of intent or party. All others amount solely to accomplices.

In the comments Hunter makes a distinction between illegal – issuing the pardons was legal – and impeachable. The second is using legal powers corruptly. Both of his previous impeachment trials was about that.

Building loyalty from militias and domestic terrorists

Kos of Daily Kos reviewed the nasty guy’s inaugural address and added comments that show how wrong he is or just laughing at the absurdity of his words. The basic question: is the nasty guy evil or stupid? As an example, the nasty guy said:

As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and, seemingly, in complete disrepair.

Kos responded:

Imagine the gall of saying that when the front row of your inauguration audience—in front of your Cabinet picks—is the modern American oligarchy.

After discussing and laughing over the nasty guys claims to be “unifier” and a “peacemaker” yet talking about invading Greenland and Panama Kos concluded

So … is his vision of “unity” and “peace” actually more like “world conquest”? Sure seems that way. Because nothing says “angry, violent, and totally unpredictable” like Trump himself and his MAGA movement. Indeed, if there’s anything we are sure to see over the next four years it’s more anger, violence, and unpredictability, courtesy of Trump. That is already his legacy, and everything he is pushing for—deportations, inflationary tariffs, anti-trans hate, and imperialism—will only further cement that legacy.

Oliver Willis of Kos showed several examples of how the mainstream media is congratulating the nasty guy because they say he showed how great of a president he will be. Emily Singer of Kos discussed how many Republicans are playing dumb after the nasty guy issued over 1500 pardons for the Capitol attackers. Strange that so many say they didn’t know about it or have no opinion on it. Alex Samuels of Kos discussed several of those nasty guy executive orders and how much the public disagrees with them. The topics include mass deportations, ending birthright citizenship, pardoning the Capitol rioters, imposing tariffs, withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, and mandating federal employees must return to the office and not work remotely. Singer reported that the ACLU, Democratic state attorneys general, and various other groups are quickly filing lawsuits to block the executive orders the nasty guy has been signing. The big one is, of course, banning birthright citizenship, which is in the Constitution. There are lawsuits against DOGE and the order that the nasty guy says will allow him to more easily fire federal employees. Morgan Stephens of Kos has more on the people filing those lawsuits. At an inaugural event Musk stood at a podium, talked for a while, and then gave a Nazi salute. Then, in case one didn’t catch it the first time, he saluted again. Stephens reported on that, on the people condemning it, and on the way too many people who are trying to dismiss, justify, or celebrate it. Alix Breeden of Kos reported that while Mark Zuckerberg was with the oligarchs at the inauguration Instagram, one of his products, started giving strange results when a user searched for Democrats. First they were told the results were hidden. Later they were given results that were far more Republican and MAGA than Democrat. Breeden concluded:

Ultimately, it’s unclear if Instagram’s algorithm is laden with MAGA content because of string pulling behind the scenes or if content from right-leaning creators is just simply more popular. One thing, however, is clear: Owners of the social media platforms that connect people, shape opinions, and keep people informed are eating out of Trump’s hand going into his second term. What they do with this newfound power remains to be seen.

There was so much for me to write about this last week I wasn’t able to include Biden’s last address to the country. An Associated Press article posted on Kos discussed it. A couple excerpts:

“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead," Biden said, drawing attention to "a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people. Dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.” Invoking President Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about the military-industrial complex when he left office, he added, “I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers to our country as well.” ... Biden also called for a constitutional amendment to end immunity for sitting presidents, after the Supreme Court granted Trump sweeping protections last year from criminal liability over his role in trying to undermine his 2020 defeat to Biden.

Last Friday Bill in Portland, Maine, in a Cheers and Jeers column for Kos quoted late night commentary. One example:

"This Monday the three richest men in the history of mankind will attend the inauguration, where they will be seated together on the platform with Trump's cabinet nominees and elected officials. Sweet Jesus in a sky box, that is the most corrupt-appearing thing I have ever heard. If we’re gonna go complete Roman Empire then at least throw Denzel Washington in there.” —Stephen Colbert

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included a few quotes worth repeating. From Olga Lautman, who studies authoritarians wrote:

Just in case people don’t fully grasp it. The pardoning of insurrectionists is Trump’s way of building loyalty from militias and domestic terrorists to carry out unofficial acts for him.

A question: Weren’t they already loyal? They had already attacked the Capitol for him, which is why they were in jail. Lautman is correct in that they will happily carry out unofficial acts for him. From Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

This was the true meaning of Inauguration Weekend 2025: the kickoff of America’s Second Republic as an unregulated and utterly unrepentant oligarchy.

I wish I knew what prompted Jack Jenkins to tweet this:

Kinda seems like a whole lotta people found out for the first time today that there's a very large, very vibrant progressive wing of Christianity (and religion in general).

Moira Donegan of The Guardian wrote:

Here is another prediction: these men will not succeed in all their schemes. They will not deport as many people as they say they will; he will not change the law as much as they pledge to; they will not, cannot, capture the institutions as completely, or bury dissent as successfully. They cannot do everything they aim to do. Because politics is not over; because our institutions are not all collapsed; and because the existing institutions are not the only methods of resistance and refusal.

While I agree with Donegan there is still a problem. While not as many will be deported as they say they will, many, likely thousands, will be deported, many more and in much more traumatic fashion that if a Democrat was president. They may not change they law as much as they pledge, but they will change the law that hurts many in the middle class, in the working class, and those in poverty. They may not capture institutions, but institutions will be damaged. They may not bury all dissent, but many will be harmed in the dissent they bury. American democracy may survive, but the cost will be high and the damage unnecessary. Down in the comments is a meme posted by exlrrp showing a farmer kneeling in his field saying:

Dear God, please send us a rapist bigot grifter so we can have cheap groceries and say the N word.

And the Tennessee Holler posted a cartoon (creator unknown) showing two men in a book lined room. The older one says:

Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Yet those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it.

Prairiecrat of the Kos community quoted a bit from an article posted on the New Republic:

Fear of increased ICE raids have already negatively affected the nation’s agricultural sector, causing alarm that food prices could skyrocket in the near future as a result of Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies. Bakersfield, California, saw a massive drop-off in the number of field workers showing up for work Tuesday while ICE agents in unmarked Chevy Suburbans rounded up and detained immigrants in the area, profiling individuals they believed to be field workers, reported CalMatters. The end result: acres of unpicked oranges roasting in the California sun at the height of the season.

I note this first action happened in California, definitely a blue state that has a governor vowing to protect his undocumented workers. Ruben Bolling posted a Tom the Dancing Bug comic on Kos showing the Constitutional Convention talking about a fourth branch of government, which will naturally arise. That will be the Dumbass Billionaires. They won’t be geniuses, but obnoxious idiots who will gain great political power. But don’t revise the new Constitution to prevent their rise. “These dunbass billionaires will be totally epic! They’ll want to live on Mars!” Bolling has a couple Questions for Classroom Discussion:

What if the Founding Fathers knew that the Dumbass Billionaires would also be racist? Would they have been less or more in favor of the Dumbass Billionaire branch? Did the Founding Fathers even consider the possibility that the elected president could himself be a Dumbass Lesser-Billionaire?

No interest in cultivating an image of responsible manhood

During the months my performing group rehearses I rarely post to this blog on Tuesdays. I am today because rehearsal was called off because of the cold weather. At the time of posting the temperature was 2F and is expected to go down to -5F overnight. That’s about -20C and colder than a household freezer. Add a wind chill to that and there are plenty of reasons to call off events and close schools. I finished the book The Star That Stays by Anna Rose Johnson, that star being the North Star that is motionless in the night sky. This is a young adult novel about Norvia Nelson. Most of the story takes place when she is 14 in 1914. Norvia was born on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan to a mother with Ojibwa and French-Acadian ancestry and a Swedish father. She has three brothers, Herman, Elton, and Caspar and a sister Dicta, short of Benedicta. When she is about twelve the family moves to Boyne City, Michigan. Her parents divorce and her Pa moves to Flint. As the major part of the story opens Ma announces she is about to marry Virgil Ward. He has two grown daughters and son Vernon, who is a few months younger than Norvia and of poor health. He is home schooled. Norvia doesn’t like the idea of Ma marrying again and is afraid that Virgil will be too much like Pa. Virgil turns out to be quite nice. She also wants to go to high school, an idea that Pa was against. Norvia is delighted that Virgil’s house has many of the 19th century books featuring strong girls, such as Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. She wants to be fun and popular as these girls are. She wants a Dashing Young Man as her beau. Shortly after Ma and Virgil are married he is dismissed from his church’s leadership because he married a divorced woman. So Norvie is afraid people won’t let her become popular if they find out she has a divorced mother and has Ojibwa heritage. Over the year nothing profound happens to Norvia. This is just a lot of normal stuff teenagers go through. She eventually figures out what her book heroines are really teaching her and she begins to appreciate her step family. I enjoyed the story, though I saw it really wasn’t written for me. I was originally attracted to the story because its idea of a girl dealing with having to hide her Native ancestry. However, her mother being divorced is a bigger concern. The author states that the skeleton of this story is based on her actual ancestors and even included a few photos, though the names in the novel and on the photos were changed. I did not watch or listen to the inauguration yesterday. I had better things to do with my time. Of course, a lot of the important things were in NPR’s news reports, which confirmed I didn’t miss anything. Oliver Willis of Daily Kos listed some strange things that happened at the inauguration yesterday. I’ll mention just a couple. Though Melania held a Bible, the nasty guy did not put his hand on it as he repeated the oath of office. That has some Evangelicals quite perturbed. In the front row were not Congressional leaders, but billionaires. Emily Singer of Kos wrote of nine promises the nasty guy included in his speech that won’t lower the price of eggs. Some of them: He’s sending troops to the border. He said of oil production, “drill baby drill” – but while he can open more land to drilling he can’t require oil companies to drill more. Oil companies don’t want the price to go much lower. He said he will “bring back free speech in America.” The First Amendment already does that. Does he mean free speech for himself and none for his opponents? He declared the official policy of the US government will be that there are only two genders. Nope, no help in egg prices, but a great deal of hurt for transgender people. He’ll change Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Hillary Clinton had a good laugh. He’ll take the Panama Canal back from China. China doesn’t own or operate it. He’ll put American astronauts on Mars. Musk had a big smile after that one. NPR reported the nasty guy signed dozens, maybe hundreds, of executive orders yesterday. That’s all about fulfilling his promises of doing certain things “on day one.” I haven’t kept a link to a list of them, so maybe I’ll write about them in the future. One item not in all those signed orders is tariffs. The auto industry is quite concerned with tariffs since their supply chain loops over the Canada and Mexico borders many times. Tom Allen, the midday classical music host on CBC Music (that’s the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), had a bit of fun with the idea of tariffs. Early in today’s program he played music performed by an American. He interrupted it three quarters of the way through so the last 25% could be played by a Canadian performer. At the end of the program he did something similar, playing a four movement piece by an American orchestra and interrupting it after three movements to play the last by an orchestra in Finland. Willis reported that one of the things the nasty guy signed is a pardon for those who attacked the Capitol four years ago. This is a pardon for more than 1500 people and included the dangerous leaders of the attack. One of them said now that he’s free and his conviction cleared he will go buy some guns. The Republican Party is no longer the party of Law and Order (if they ever truly were). In a tweet on Bluesky Willis included a photo showing the temperatures at noon at some previous inaugurations. Ronald Reagan's second was 7F and deserved to be indoors. John Kennedy’s was 22F, Barack Obama’s first was at 28F, and Jimmy Carter’s was 28F. Others were warmer than that. So the nasty guy’s second at 22 was not too cold. I had written about speculation that it was moved indoors to avoid him having to see small crowds (definitely smaller than Obama’s and Biden’s). Another excuse I heard was the move was prompted by the invited billionaires who didn’t want to sit in the cold (and with the ceremony in the Rotunda they had exclusive seats in a more exclusive crowd). In contrast to the nasty guy issuing pardons for violent insurrectionists, on the last day Biden issued preemptive pardons to people who upheld the law and earned the nasty guy’s wrath. An Associated Press article posted on Kos reported they include Dr. Anthony Fauci who had guided us through the pandemic, retired Gen. Mark Milley who had called the nasty guy fascist, and to members, staff, and testifying police of the House January 6 Committee that investigated the Capitol attack. This last group included chairs Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson. Biden’s pardons said this should not be taken that these people committed crimes, rather that to protect them from threats of prosecution by the nasty guy. Emily Singer of Kos reported that DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency tasked with proposing cuts to the federal government, is likely making it’s first cut – co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy. He’s accused of being lazy and spending too much time trying to get himself elected or appointed to office. He failed at being a candidate for president. He didn’t get appointed to the Ohio senate seat vacated by the new vice nasty. He will now likely run for governor of Ohio. Does he like losing? As for DOGE, it is being sued. The lawsuit says it meets the requirements for being a “federal advisory committee.” As such it needs to be regulated so the government receives “transparent and balanced advice.” And that means it must file a charter with Congress, keep regular minutes, and allow the public to attend. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker of The Atlantic.

Like nearly every entity that has tried and failed to bend Trump to its will—his party, his former rivals, his partners in Congress, and his former aides among them—the tech elites largely seem to have decided that they’re better off seeking Trump’s favor. ... The sheer quantity of money flowing to, and surrounding, Trump has increased. In his first term, he assembled the wealthiest Cabinet in history; this time, his would-be Cabinet includes more than a dozen billionaires. Sixteen of his appointees come not just from the top one percent, but from the top one-ten-thousandth percent, according to the Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy organization. Democrats, too, have long kept their wealthiest donors close, inviting them in on policy discussions and providing special access, but never before have the nation’s wealthiest played such a central role in the formation of a new administration.

Down in the comments greg posted a photo in honor of Martin Luther King day of a young black man holding a sign that says:

Dear White People: Stop using Dr. King as an example of a peaceful protest... You shot him too.

In the comments of another pundit roundup Nick Anderson posted a cartoon:

Over a package of candy: Red Dye No. 3 has been banned in the U.S. due to widespread health concerns. Over a MAGA hat: Red Dye No. 47 will be widely available despite concerns about the health effects on democracy.

And way down in the comments Captain Frogbert posted a meme:

Just so everyone is clear Los Angeles is under duress Mexico sends help Canada sends help Ukraine sends help Americans send help Trump elect sends insults Republicans send threats MAGA sends conspiracies Who loves America? Who is the enemy of the people? -- Russ Fraley

In a third roundup Chitown Kev quoted Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times discussing Mark Zuckerberg’s use of the term “masculine energy.”

When Zuckerberg speaks of “masculine energy” and “aggression,” he seems to be imagining the “masculinity” of an older teenager or a younger adult. The masculinity of someone unburdened by duty, obligation or real responsibility. More Jordan Belfort in “Wolf of Wall Street” than Ed Tom Bell in “No Country for Old Men.” There is no apparent interest, from either Zuckerberg or Elon Musk or anyone else bemoaning the current cultural cachet of masculinity, in cultivating an image of responsible manhood. We have a clique of powerful middle-aged men who want nothing more than to be boys. But then this is exactly what you would expect in a country where the standard-bearer for the “return” of masculinity to the political and cultural world is Donald Trump, a selfish, petulant and narcissistic man-child who celebrates his rejection of the traditional masculine virtues of duty and restraint and who has done so for his entire career on the public stage. Trump stands for masculinity as misogyny, dominance, exploitation and — as per Zuckerberg — aggression. More concretely, Zuckerberg and like-minded tech moguls have direct material interests in cultivating Trump’s good favor by performing his brand of manhood. Meta, for instance, wants to undermine its competitors, suppress regulation and free itself from the threat of antitrust enforcement. Other tech billionaires want to leverage state power to secure their investments in artificial intelligence, ahead of a potential collapse in the value of A.I. stocks. If the bubble pops, they want Uncle Sam — and thus the American taxpayer — to be the one holding the bag. Their pose and presentation, then, are all obviously strategic.

Over the last few days I’ve heard news about plans for raids on businesses in blue states to look for illegal immigrants. I’ve heard that executive orders have been signed for mass deportations, beginning with criminal illegals (watch out for their definition of “criminal”). Yet Kos of Kos says Tom Homan, the new “Border Czar” is walking back his promise of mass deportations. CNN reported this week Homan has been telling Republican lawmakers that deporting millions of immigrants might be impossible. There just isn’t the manpower and funding to do it. To deport 20 million people would cost $1 trillion over a decade. Getting $88 billion from Congress to get it started this year is highly unlikely. Also, the current staffing of the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not anywhere near enough to round up and deport millions. There aren’t enough agents to pull off big raids in sanctuary cities where local police would refuse to help. While some Republicans claim that spending $1 trillion to deport 20 million will be a net benefit (based on false assumptions), others are going to look at the loss of the rural labor force and related hit to the economy and decide not to authorize the money. Raids in red states will prompt immigrants to flee to blue states. That will worsen the economies of red states and the shift in population will perhaps shift Congressional seats back to blue states. Lisa Needham of Kos reported on a judge issuing a strange ruling. This is another by Texas judge Reed O’Connor, who is trying to destroy the Affordable Care Act. The case was brought against American Airlines that offered 401(k) retirement plans that included funds that invested in corporations

with environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) goals. [The case is] the newest—and dumbest—front in the war on “woke.” ... What O’Connor’s decision functionally does is say that investments that factor in ESG concerns are a breach of a fund manager’s duty, regardless of whether there’s a financial loss. The mere whiff of displaying a vague consciousness about the planet is simply too much to bear.

O’Connor’s efforts may not be necessary. Since the nasty guy won in November fund managers are fleeing a commitment to supporting net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Companies took on ESG and DEI actions to attempt to be more attractive in a free market. But conservatives are no longer interested in a free market. They want to get rid of “woke” wherever it may be. An Epic Maps post shows maps of Alabama. There is a band of sediments from where the coastline was 100 million years ago that created a band of fertile soil. That maps to a higher slave population in 1860, a higher black population in 2010, and a blue band in a red state from the 2020 election results.

He doesn’t have to see how small the crowd is

My Sunday movie was The Tuba Thieves. Yes, there is theft of tubas, but the movie isn’t about that. The backdrop of this documentary is the theft of tubas from Los Angeles high schools from 2011 to 2013. We see a re-enactment of one and the discovery of another. Every so often we are shown a list of the number of tubas stolen in a season. But that’s about all there is in 90 minutes of movie about tubas and their theft. The movie is really about listening. There is a group of deaf people we encounter several times through the movie. There are scenes of music while deaf people sign to each other. There is a discussion of airplanes flying overhead (with decibel levels shown) and sonic booms. There’s a recreation of the first performance of 4’ 33” by John Cage (look it up!). There are a lot of scenes of just listening to the sounds of the environment. Sometimes they were so quiet I wouldn’t have noticed them if the closed captioning didn’t clue me in. I enjoyed it, though will say it is one of the more bizarre documentaries I’ve seen. On the Metacritic page for this film the six professional reviewers gave it a 77 out of 100, with scores ranging from 100 to 42. The four user reviews gave it 2.8 out of 10. Professional critics liked it, ordinary people didn’t. A while back I wrote that there were calls for Biden to certify the Equal Rights Amendment, granting equal rights regardless of sex, to be part of the Constitution. I also explained the dubious state of the amendment and why people thought it was up to Biden and is something he could do. Morgan Stepehns of Daily Kos reported that Biden did call for the ERA to be made part of the Constitution. He declared that it is ratified.

The amendment would need to be formally signed and certified by National Archivist Colleen Shogan in order to become law. According to NPR, supporters of the ERA are expected to protest in front of the National Archives office, urging Shogan’s signature. She has previously stated that she will follow the opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel, which suggests that the courts or Congress must decide the amendment’s fate.

The big reason for Shogan’s reluctance is the text of the ERA had a 1982 expiration. It was renewed and that deadline also passed. The last ratification came after that later deadline. In the meantime a few states that ratified it withdrew their ratification. Some people are wondering why Biden waited until the last few days of his administration to make that declaration. There is no time left for him to take the case to a court or to Congress if the Archivist doesn’t agree with him. So thanks, Joe, for the declaration of support. But it doesn’t mean much and no action will be taken while Republicans are in charge. Alix Breeden of Kos reported that the nasty guy has shifted his inauguration from outside to the Capitol Rotunda. The reason is harsh weather. The Rotunda is a historic place, but it isn’t all that big. It might hold hundreds. It can’t hold millions. A lot of people who were going to watch it in person won’t fit. So they’re invited to the Capital One Arena to watch it on the jumbotron. Yeah, that’s quite a letdown. And the ticket supporters now see as useless, why that’s now “commemorative.” For those who donated $1 million to the inauguration fund to get a prime seat, that will translate to an Arena suite. Why did he make the change? Security is proposed. Bad weather is the stated reason. As for security, the Secret Service knows how to make inaugurations secure. They now have three days to rework those plans. As for the weather. The last time the inauguration was indoors was Reagan’s second in 1985 when the temps dropped to 7F. I’ve heard (alas, I don’t have a link) that while an Arctic blast will come through the next few days the forecast for noon on Monday in Washington is 22F – the same temperature as Obama’s second in 2013. In the comments of a pundit roundup for Kos by Greg Dworkin, there is a tweet by former VP candidate Tim Walz. He’s shown in his flannels and stocking cap with snow coating him and his microphones. He captioned it with a phrase I heard when visiting Alaska, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” In the body of the roundup Dworkin included a tweet by Judd Legum:

This, to me, seems less about “danger” and more about crowd size. A lot of people won’t want to come out in very cold temperatures and Trump doesn’t want to be photographed addressing a small crowd.

So the probability of a crowd on the National Mall smaller than in 2017 means shifting to the Rotunda where he doesn’t have to see how small the crowd is.

Authenticity and performative masculinity

I’m finally caught up in reading the news. I saw various notices about Senate confirmation hearings of cabinet nominees. Committees scheduled several of them at the same times. I didn’t watch any of them (though links are posted), though I read summaries that I saw. The big hearing over the last few days was of Pete Hegseth, nominated for Department of Defense. On Tuesday, the day of his hearing Emily Singer of Daily Kos reported that Republicans are covering up his disqualifications. They accepted an inadequate FBI report, which “didn’t interview people who have accused Hegseth of improper and even illegal behavior.” They also planned to limit questioning that would mean not all of his alleged bad behavior will be discussed. And when Hegseth did his rounds of individual meetings with senators Democrats were left off the schedule. Republicans said Democrats had scheduling conflicts. Democrats said, no we didn’t. Singer wrote:

Democrats are aghast at their GOP colleagues for ramming through Hegseth’s confirmation hearing while ignoring that Hegseth is completely unqualified for the job.

Singer’s article got into some of the questioning by Democrats on the Armed Services Committee hearing. Sen. Jack Reed listed many reasons why Hegseth is unqualified. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi defended Hegseth on accusations of sexual assault by saying most of the people making those accusations are anonymous. Singer described more of the hearing in a second post. Republicans ran defense or asked easy questions. So Democrats asked the tough ones. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia didn’t buy the idea that anonymous sources meant there was nothing to the allegations. Kaine noted many accusers are bound by nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements. He also got into the sordid details of wives (there have been three) and mistresses. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a veteran who lost her legs in combat, asked Hegseth basic questions about the military. Hegseth could not answer. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona asked about the drinking and sexual misconduct.

"Which is it—have you overcome personal issues, or are you the target of a smear campaign? It can't be both. It's clear to me that you're not being honest with us or the American people because you know the truth would disqualify you from getting the job,” Kelly said. “And just as concerning as each of these specific disqualifying accusations are, what concerns me just as much is the idea of having a secretary of defense who is not transparent.”

Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said Hegseth has talked about raising the minimum standards (in an attempt at disqualifying women from combat?). Peters asked:

Do you think that the way to raise the minimum standards of the people who serve us is to lower the standards for the secretary of defense, that we have someone who has never managed an organization more than 100 people?

Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Elizabeth Warren focused on Hegseth’s misogynistic comments that have changed since his nomination. As an example of defense Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma asked how many senators have shown up drunk for a vote? How many senators have gotten a divorce for cheating on their wives? They aren’t asked to step down. Singer responded that senators doing that does not “render Hegseth’s alleged actions meaningless.” And those senators were not nominated for Secretary of Defense.

Ultimately, Democrats laid bare how unqualified Hegseth is to lead the Pentagon. But Republicans are set to confirm Hegseth anyway, kowtowing to Trump’s demand that they all roll over and accept his deeply unprepared and corrupt nominees.

Alex Samuels of Kos reported that Sen. Jodi Ernst of Iowa now says she will support Hegseth.

Part of what makes Ernst’s raving endorsement notable is her history as a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor who previously raised concerns over Hegseth’s ability to lead the Pentagon. In December, she cited unease over Hegseth’s past opposition to women serving in combat roles, though he walked this back during Tuesday’s hearing.

There is a lot of speculation about what prompted her to change her mind. Perhaps it was pressure from the Republican base.

After meeting with Hegseth in December and voicing doubts about whether she’d vote in his favor, she was relentlessly bullied by hardcore MAGA adherents. Not only did some of Trump’s most ardent supporters run ads in Ernst’s home state of Iowa, but they also questioned her conservative bona fides on social media. Mega-billionaire Elon Musk also pledged to bankroll primary challenges to Republicans who went against the president-elect.

Yeah, that could do it. With Ernst ready to approve, confirmation of Hegseth is quite likely. In Wednesday’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare:

You can see in it so many of the central tenets of Trump’s approach to governance: the contempt for expertise and traditional qualifications; the insistence that the only real qualification is authenticity—and that authenticity is somehow wrapped up in performative masculinity; the belief that sounding tough and being tough are the same thing; and the conviction that complexity necessarily reduces to weakness. It’s all right there in the nomination of a proudly unqualified individual [Pete Hegseth] who frames his lack of qualifications as qualification of a different, more authentic, variety that reflects what he calls a “warrior ethos” America has somehow lost in its infatuation with equity. And this idea has the apparently silent assent of all of the Republican members of the committee and a few, at least, enthusiastic takers.

In today’s roundup Dworkin quoted Holly Berkley Fletcher of The Bulwark:

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) raised a subject relevant to Hegseth’s character, personal stability, and potential vulnerability to blackmail: Hegseth’s repeated adultery and other sexual indiscretions—including sleeping with someone (who alleged assault) two months after his child was born to his mistress with whom he cheated on his second wife. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) then rose to Hegseth’s defense. Mullin, who is a member of an evangelical Pentecostal church, began by thanking the third Mrs. Hegseth, present in the hearing room, for “loving him through that mistake.” Mullin went on, “The only reason I am here and not in prison is because my wife loved me, too. ... I’m not perfect, but I found somebody that thought I was perfect ... but just like our Lord and Savior forgave me, my wife’s had to forgive me more than once, too.” He then gave Hegseth the opportunity to awkwardly gush about how smart, capable, and beautiful his wife is. Mullin’s mini-sermon was a lasagna of problematic messaging—the lauding of a woman for sticking with an abusive man, more generally giving women responsibility for men’s redemption, and calling longstanding patterns of behavior a “mistake.” Oh, and there was also the obligatory reference to poor Jesus—whom Hegseth also repeatedly invoked to get out of every jam free. (I seem to remember a commandment about not taking the Lord’s name in vain.)

I’ve been thinking about the nasty guy’s infatuation with Greenland and the possibility he might invade to take it. Might the military refuse? Might the Joint Chiefs of Staff simply tell him that’s a bad idea and we’re not going to do it? Then I got to be thinking with Hegseth in charge of the Pentagon the possibility of refusing has gone down. Hegseth weeding through reluctant generals is also likely before the nasty guy calls for invasion. On to another nominee, this one is Pam Bondi for US Attorney General. She was part of the nasty guy’s legal team to attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported that at her hearing she claimed to know nothing about it. And other responses were lies. Not surprising. Singer also reported on the hearing, noting that Bondi wouldn't say who won the 2020 election, only saying Biden is president. Singer concluded:

It’s no surprise that Bondi refused to say Biden won. Trump demands total loyalty from his Cabinet picks, and admitting that Biden was the victor goes against Trump’s narcissistic delusion that he didn’t lose in 2020. But it’s terrifying that Republican senators are set to confirm an attorney general who not only can’t admit basic reality, but will readily lie to stroke Trump’s fragile ego.

On Wednesday Samuels reported there is a deal to end the Israel/Gaza war after 15 months of destruction in Gaza. Since Samuels’ post the Israeli security cabinet has approved the deal, though the far right members threatened to pull out of the cabinet and perhaps even the coalition government, meaning elections would have to be called. Last I heard the full Israeli cabinet is in the process of approving it. Back to Samuels’ post: Shortly after the deal was announced the nasty guy tried to take credit for it, that it only happened because he won in November. Of course, that ignores (as the nasty guy frequently does) that Biden laid out the basic terms of the agreement at the end of May and has been working steadily for its acceptance since then. Agreeing to the plan became necessary for Hamas when Israel made a deal with Lebanon and the Syrian regime collapsed. Is the nasty guy taking credit simply because he said “all hell will break loose” if a deal wasn’t done by his inauguration? In Thursday’s pundit roundup Chitown Kev quoted Hamilton Nolan of his How Things Work on Substack. Nolan wrote about the estimated cost of the Los Angeles fires and that in 2024 disasters around the world caused $320 billion in damages. Also, 2024 is the hottest on record and we have exceeded the 1.5C level of warming that is said to be a hard limit by climate scientists. And CEOs of America’s most powerful finance companies announced they are withdrawing from the climate coalition. Then Nolan wrote:

For Americans, the hardest part of what is coming is going to be giving up on the grand American myth of infinite material abundance. The classic vision of the American dream—the house, the yard, the driveway with a big car for everyone—is going to have to go away, by necessity. It will not go quietly. Americans regard these things not as temporary byproducts of a particular age of global capitalism that cannot last, but rather as human rights. Much of the confounding Trumpian tendency to celebrate big trucks and more oil drilling and other things we know are bad for us is simply a child’s gut reaction to being told that we cannot have that lollipop, after all. Politically speaking, we are in the tantrum phase of the climate transition. This is understandable, on an emotional level; the sweet promise of abundance has long been the thing that soothed the public’s disgust with inequality. But we can’t allow ourselves to linger in this period. The longer we wallow in resentment and denial, the longer we put off the hard work of adaptation, and the more difficult and costly the adaptation becomes. Every time you see a politician telling voters they can damn well have a big McMansion with icy air conditioning and a Ford F-450 and cheap gas and a new highway to reach their new suburban development, take a moment to imagine how those voters will feel when the AC bills skyrocket, and the gas prices soar, and the heat kills the grass, and the overloaded electrical grid flickers, and the defunded public services mean that there is no one to come save them when the trees catch fire. We are not doing anyone any favors by denying reality.