Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

The Dems are getting focused:

Armed with new polling showing Musk’s popularity in the toilet, key Democratic leaders are going after the top adviser to President Donald Trump who is dismantling the federal government. They are attempting to subpoena him and introducing legislation to block him from receiving federal contracts while he holds a “special” role leading Trump’s cost-cutting crusade…

“If you oppose Donald Trump, making Elon Musk the face of his administration is the smart way to go,” said Democratic pollster Geoff Garin. “Where the rubber really hits the road on all of this is for people who are inclined to be supportive of Donald Trump and they, for whatever reason, think Donald Trump is on their side. But many of them have a different view of Elon Musk.”

[…]

New internal polling, conducted on behalf of House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership, found Musk is viewed negatively among 1,000 registered voters in battleground districts. Just 43 percent approve of him and 51 percent view him unfavorably. The poll, conducted by the Democratic firm Impact Research and completed between Jan. 19 to 25, also found that Musk evoked strong negative feelings. Of the 51 percent who disapproved of him, 43 percent did so strongly.

The survey isn’t a one-off, either. An Economist/YouGov poll published on Wednesday also found Musk’s approval rating underwater, 43 percent favorable to 49 percent unfavorable.

A poll by Garin’s Hart Research of 1,735 voters taken between Jan. 24 and Jan. 30 found that a majority — including 56 percent of independents — have a negative view of Musk.

In House Majority Forward’s internal polling, pollsters asked respondents for their thoughts on “the creation of a government of the rich for the rich by appointing up to nine different billionaires to the administration,” and found 70 percent opposed with only 19 percent in support — a stat that suggests Democrats have landed on a message that could gain traction with swing voters.

That data and focus groups held by House Majority Forward helped bring attacks on the administration into focus: Democrats “shouldn’t chide Musk, Trump, and others for being rich,” the group wrote in a memo, but point out Musk’s conflicts of interests as head of DOGE and note that he could undermine key safety net programs to enrich himself at the expense of American taxpayers.

That makes sense. Musk is way too public and way too weird and there’s already one weirdo at the top,

People have to be wondering why the richest man in the world is doing all this even as he’s running his companies. It’s bizarre, even by Trump standards. Dems are smart to push this and they should aim at Republicans who are looking for an off-ramp. Blame Elon, get him out. Nothing is more important right now.

Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast: "The water comes down from the northwest parts of Canada, I guess, but the Pacific Northwest. And it comes down by millions and millions of barrels a day and uh, I opened it up. It wasn't that easy to do. But I opened it up and it's pouring… pic.twitter.com/UcHiv8uZRe

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 6, 2025

Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast: “The water comes down from the northwest parts of Canada, I guess, but the Pacific Northwest. And it comes down by millions and millions of barrels a day and uh, I opened it up. It wasn’t that easy to do. But I opened it up and it’s pouring down.”

It’s actually raining right now so I guess he’s turned the valve on and pointed it up at the sky?

Where are the farmers whose water has been wasted and which they’ll need next summer? Well…

Agriculture is a form of legalized gambling here in California, our land is prone to deluge or drought. Our farmers, relentlessly adapting, are as innovative as any set of suits in Silicon Valley, learning new ways to grow more food with less water. As sure as the sun, our farmers have always shared their views of California politics as they relentlessly pursue the water necessary to grow much of the nation’s fruits and vegetables.

Yet now, an eerie silence has begun descending over California farming. A candidate many of them undoubtedly supported for president, Donald Trump, has shockingly wasted some of their water in a downright dangerous stunt unlike anything in memory.

When I spoke last week before two water conferences in two different states filled with Central Valley farmers, the first question I confronted in Sacramento was basically how to make all this Trump stuff go away. When I theorized at the second conference in Reno that Trump may not know what he’s doing out here, I got no eye contact from more than half the room as we all exited.

They haven’t said a word. Dear Leader cares about them. They know that. If he sounds like a moron and wastes their water it’s got to be for a good reason. He’s a genius.

The blackmail is though

The addled, dementia patient in the White House is misinformed, as usual, Nieman Lab unpacked the “scandal.”

Is your brain hurting, just from reading that? If Politico was, in fact, being bribed in exchange for slanted coverage, that would be noteworthy. It is, of course, not.

Some of MAGA’s biggest brains seem to have noticed that several million federal dollars went to Politico and assumed that they came from a “Bribery—Media Fellow Travelers” line item in the budget. Instead, the money comes from federal offices buying subscriptions to Politico’s bureaucracy-focused Pro products. Government offices (and even Republican political campaigns!) have paid for news subscriptions for literal centuries. By the Trumpist line of logic, whenever a government department buys some desks or office chairs, it’s actually bribing Ikea to twist its Lagkapten and Grönfjäll into supporting DEI.

That, for outlets like the AP, the size of the outlays were greatest under Trump’s own previous administration does not seem to have shocked anyone back to reality. The questions, they continue to swirl!

November 18, 2024We’ve all gotten familiar with the absurdity of a lot of anti-media rhetoric the past decade or so. What’s different in this go-round is the speed with which nonsense spirals up from social media to policymakers to actual governmental action. Brendan Carr really does want to kill public broadcasting. Trump really is going to go after Politico’s revenues because he doesn’t like some of its stories. The lawsuits will keep coming, and they’ll keep getting settled by nervous corporate executives. Where it ends is entirely unclear.

I think POlitico can take care of itself but the point of this is to intimidate the media into going easy on the administration — and it works.

For instance, CBS is in settlement talks with Trump over his completely bogus accusation that they engaged in election interference by editing Kamala Harris’ interview with 60 Minutes. They are doing this even though they released all the unedited tapes and transcripts yesterday which prove that this did not happen.

Brian Stelter at CNN wrote about this, showing just how corrupt this whole thing has become:

Shortly before Election Day, Trump sued CBS in federal court alleging that the interview was deceptively “doctored.” Legal experts said the suit was frivolous and CBS said “we will vigorously defend against it.”

But the suit became a problem for the news division’s parent company, Paramount Global, once Trump won the election. Paramount is awaiting government approval of its pending merger with Skydance Media. Outside analysts, citing Trump’s transactional nature, predicted that Paramount may have a hard time getting the necessary federal approvals. Last week The New York Times reported that Paramount is now trying to settle the suit, despite having a strong legal case.

The complaint to the FCC moved along on a parallel track. The Center for American Rights alleged that “60 Minutes” violated the FCC’s “news distortion” policy. According to the agency’s website, “news distortion” must “involve a significant event,” not a minor part of a news report, and must require proof that a broadcaster “deliberately distorted a factual news report.”

Carr’s predecessor atop the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, dismissed the complaint in one of her last acts as FCC chair. But Carr, who Trump appointed in 2017 and promoted to chair last month, brought it back to life. Carr acknowledged in interviews that the bar for proving “news distortion” was very high – for instance, it would apply if someone said “no” in an interview, but a TV station edited the segment to appear like the person said “yes.”

But he argued that he had to send a letter to CBS asking for the transcript and tapes from the interview. “I don’t see how the FCC can reasonably adjudicate this claim of news distortion without seeing what was actually said,” Carr told CNN.

Now he has.

The material supplied by CBS showed debatable but normal editing practices, not deliberate distortion.

There was nothing material in the edit, no contradiction and nothing that one could say helped Kamala Harris in some way. The question was about Israel and why Netanyahu was “not listening” to the US. Harris defended the administration:

It was not a particularly newsworthy exchange. But CBS aired two different parts of Harris’s answer on different broadcasts.

In a preview clip that aired on “Face the Nation,” Harris was shown saying that “the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.”

During the actual “60 Minutes” program, in response to the same question, she was shown saying “we are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States, to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”

The comments were from the same answer, CBS just aired different parts of it. And it was meaningless in any case. It’s just Trump trolling that’s going to end up putting millions in his pockets now that he’s found out how to leverage his trolling against media companies and, presumably, anyone else over whom he has power. It’s graft, pure and simple.

He could go down in history as one of the worst

Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial philosophy when he acquires a company is to immediately shut down everything and then restore a few once they get the lay of the land and determine what he thinks is necessary. We saw that at Twitter when he came in and fired everyone, determined that any kind of moderation was unnecessary and it’s now overrun with bots, disinformation, foreign propaganda and Nazis. He likes that. He fired the disaster team that made Twitter an important resource during those times, getting out information you could rely on as real. As we found out during the LA fires, it’s completely useless for that purpose now.

He thinks the United States federal government is just like twitter. For instance he said this just the other night:

“Regulations, basically, should be default gone,” Musk said. “Not default there, default gone. And if it turns out that we missed the mark on a regulation, we can always add it back in.”

“These regulations are added willy-nilly all the time. So we’ve just got to do a wholesale, spring cleaning of regulation and get the government off the backs of everyday Americans so people can get things done,” Musk said, adding later: “If the government has millions of regulations holding everyone back, well, it’s not freedom. We’ve got to restore freedom.”

As we’ve seen with USAID, he’s also willing to completely shut down agencies he says have engaged in fraud with no notice. I’ve heard some fatuous Republicans on television saying that they can always “restore” the functions that are really important. Sure. Republicans love helping foreigners.

What are the odds that this is going to end well?

Two weeks into President Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid, H.I.V. groups abroad have not received any funding, jeopardizing the health of more than 20 million people, including 500,000 children. Subsequent waivers from the State Department have clarified that the work can continue, but the funds and legal paperwork to do so are still missing.

With the near closure of the American aid agency known as U.S.A.I.D. and its recall of officers posted abroad, there is little hope that the situation will resolve quickly, experts warned.

H.I.V. treatment and services were funded through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a $7.5 billion program that was frozen along with all foreign aid on Mr. Trump’s first day in office.

[…]

Without treatment, millions of people with H.I.V. would be at risk of severe illness and premature death. The loss of treatment also threatens to reverse the dramatic progress made against H.I.V. in recent years and could spur the emergence of drug-resistant strains of H.I.V.; both outcomes could have a global impact, including in the United States.

There are very serious consequences for the impulsive, wrecking ball mode of government that Project 2025 and Elon Musk are carrying out. They don’t care. Musk is a sociopath and Russell Vought (who is clearly guiding this behind the scenes as well) is a racist white nationalist religious fanatic who no doubt thinks that people with HIV were asking for it. Neither they, nor Trump, care at all if 20 million people die. In fact, I suspect they think it’s probably a good thing since the sick are a burden on the rich people (producers) who are responsible for everything good in this world.

Update —

More horror:

Asanda Zondi received a startling phone call last Thursday, with orders to make her way to a health clinic in Vulindlela, South Africa, where she was participating in a research study that was testing a new device to prevent pregnancy and H.IV. infection.

The trial was shutting down, a nurse told her. The device, a silicone ring inserted into her vagina, needed to be removed right away.

When Ms. Zondi, 22, arrived at the clinic, she learned why: The U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded the study, had withdrawn financial support and had issued a stop-work order to all organizations around the globe that receive its money. The abrupt move followed an executive order by President Trump freezing all foreign aid for at least 90 days. Since then, the Trump administration has taken steps to dismantle the agency entirely.

Ms. Zondi’s trial is one of dozens that have been abruptly frozen, leaving people around the world with experimental drugs and medical products in their bodies, cut off from the researchers who were monitoring them, and generating waves of suspicion and fear.

They are firing around 5,000 people leaving less that 300 to do the clean up. People are definitely going to die.

He really thinks the Palestinians are pets who can be rehomed to a “farm in the country.” He’s doubling down. (I wonder if everyone is aware that Trump’s new Ambassador to Israel,Mike Huckabee, has said that there’s no such thing as a Palestinian? Yeah…)

This is awfully cute:

 Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday proposed offering residents the right to resettle in any country that will have them after U.S. President Donald Trump‘s plan to take over Gaza and relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries.

Saying the people of Gaza should have the same right to freedom of movement and migration that was the norm around the world, Katz announced on X that the plan would provide a range of exit options, including via land crossings, as well as special arrangements to depart by sea and air.

He singled out Canada as a top potential destination due to what he said was its “structured immigration program” and previously stated willingness to accept migrants from Gaza.

“I have instructed the IDF to prepare a plan that will allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so, to any country willing to receive them,” he said in his proposal in which he also threw down the gauntlet to countries critical of the way Israel had conducted its military offensive in Gaza,” wrote Katz.

“Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway and others, which have falsely accused Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow Gazans to enter their territory. Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse.”

“I welcome President Trump’s bold initiative, which can create extensive opportunities for those in Gaza who wish to leave, assist them in resettling in host countries, and support long-term reconstruction efforts in a demilitarized, threat-free Gaza after Hamas — an effort that will take many years,” he added.

Why not the US??? I think people in the Palm Beach area would be thrilled to welcome them. Or Arkansas, Mike Huckabee’s state. Think of all the jobs it would create building the fancy new homes for them. Why should Canada get all that money?

Marco Rubio and his Press Secretary Barbie both said that he meant that the ethnic cleansing would be temporary. Trump seems to have a different plan in mind, though. It’s clear that he means for them to be “resettled” in “the region.” But don’t worry their homes will be modern. And maybe, if they’re very good boys and girls, they’ll be allowed to visit Trump Gaza Golf Resort, maybe even work there a janitors some day.

The New York Times:

When President Trump announced his proposal for the United States to take ownership of Gaza on Tuesday, he shocked even senior members of his own White House and government.

While his announcement looked formal and thought-out — he read the plan from a sheet of paper — his administration had not done even the most basic planning to examine the feasibility of the idea, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

It wasn’t only the Americans who were scrambling; the announcement came as just as much of a surprise to Mr. Trump’s Israeli visitors. Soon before they walked out for their joint news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump surprised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel by telling him he planned to announce the Gaza ownership idea, according to two people briefed on their interactions.

Inside the U.S. government, there had been no meetings with the State Department or Pentagon, as would normally occur for any serious foreign policy proposal, let alone one of such magnitude. There had been no working groups. The Defense Department had produced no estimates of the troop numbers required, or cost estimates, or even an outline of how it might work.

There was little beyond an idea inside the president’s head.

Nobody knew about it before he rolled it out. He is unstable and I mean that literally. His impulsivity is more childlike every day. Like this kid:

BREAKING: we just blocked Musk & Trump out of the Treasury systems! Court order just secured — big win by us at @sddaction.bsky.social & our partners including @publiccitizen.bsky.social!

— Norm Eisen (@normeisen.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T14:54:05.323Z

This is written by Jay Michaelson a visiting professor priest at Harvard:

 I’m posting in response to the many sincerely anguished claims that not enough is being done to stop Trump.  This is not reflected in the facts.

– Represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group and State Democracy Defenders Fund, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filed suit on Monday against the Treasury Department “for sharing confidential data with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk.”  Go to Public Citizen’s website to learn all about this lawsuit, which is very likely to prevail.

– On USAID, appearing with other Democratic lawmakers outside USAID offices on Monday, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) shouted, “Elon Musk, you didn’t create USAID. The United States Congress did for the American people … like Elon Musk did not create USAID, he doesn’t have the power to destroy it. And who’s going to stop him? We are…  This a constitutional crisis that we are in today.”   Lawsuits have also been filed in this matter, and are also likely to prevail.

– Hakeem Jeffries has announced lawsuits have been filed regarding the firings of inspectors general.

– On Jan 21, Democracy Forward, was filed at 12:01 p.m. ET on Monday and accused Elon Musk’s DOGE of being a “shadow operation led by unelected billionaires” that flouts federal transparency rules.  That should win.

– National Security Counselors filed a suit arguing that DOGE meets the requirements to be a federal advisory committee and is therefore legally required to have “fairly balanced” representation, keep regular minutes of meetings and allow public access to meetings.  Clearly accurate.

– Eighteen state attorneys general and a slew of immigrants’ rights groups brought swift legal action against Trump after he signed his executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship for some children born in the U.S., arguing that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment.  Obviously, clearly unconstitutional.

– “Schedule F” has been challenged in court by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents employees in 37 agencies and departments.  

– Several immigrant rights groups in the United States, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s ban on asylum claims.

– GLAD Law and the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR) have sued to stop Trump’s ban on trans people in the military.

And there are many more

Yes, there are Trump judges in the courts, and if Aileen Cannon types get these cases, Trump may prevail.  But most judges are not like her.  These actions are clearly illegal and/or unconstitutional, and they WILL be stopped.

Whether Elon and Trump will abide by court orders remains to be seen. That’s the big test. But there is action on that front.

The big question hovering over all of this is what the Supremes will finally do. JV Last had a rather chilling thought on all that yesterday:

Under the current status quo, the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the law in the American system. Trump will test this proposition. Take that to the bank.

At which point SCOTUS will have two options:

1. Find against Trump and hope that Trump agrees to be bound by the Court’s opinion; or
2. Let Trump have his way, even if it is blatantly unconstitutional—because they believe that Trump will defy their order and will get away with it, because no other power center in the government will be willing to enforce SCOTUS’s ruling.

Real talk: I’m not sure which of those pathways would be more prudent.

It depends on circumstance. How popular is Trump at the time of the ruling? Does the case concern a subject that has great salience for the public? What would the vote count be, 9–0? 5–4? Do Democrats control any branches of government?

Because here’s the thing: When we get to that final showdown, it’s for all the marbles. If Trump can successfully defy a SCOTUS order, then American democracy is over.

That’s enough to keep you awake tonight isn’t it? He thinks the Supremes should keep their powder dry and I couldn’t disagree more. They should vote 7-2 (Alito and Thomas are hopeless) against Trump, no question. I doubt it will go down that way, but that’s the best case scenario. We’re already so far down the rabbit hole that there’s no margin in being “prudent” for another day. It’s all on the line already.

Join the fight or be political roadkill

First: Get busy. Talk is cheap. Action is better (and empowering). Even if it’s just leaving a voice message with your representatives, filling out an online response form or sending an efax. To Republicans and Democrats. Regularly. Not one and done.

No, it’s not as sexy as going to a big rally with your tribe or launching that nonprofit you’ve been rolling around in your head. Neither is hunkering down with an M4 in a cold, wet foxhole. Deal with it. The unsexy stuff matters:

Back when we had a Democratic congressman here, I knew the staff and would call the office to gauge the temperature on hot issues. I’d ask how the calls were running on a bill progressives wanted passed. Ten to one against. “Where are the Democrats?” they asked, exasperated. They’d voted, reset their politics to cruise control and went back to complaining.

Do that now and Musk-Trump-MAGA will eat you for lunch. But just as Trump is a blustering fraud, so is their mob-speak. Their goal here is simple: Bark loudly enough that the other dog rolls over on its back and pees in the air in submission.

That’s gonna be a no from me, dawg

Musk-Trump-MAGA is barking loudly at Bill Kristol and Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark. They’re being attacked online, sometimes with threats. But they’re not submitting.

Longwell writes:

Bill isn’t alone in receiving these weird smears and creepy attacks. The New York Times, Politico, the BBC, the Associated Press, Ben Stiller, Orlando Bloom, Jean-Claude Van Damme—all have also been accused of receiving USAID money for various normal things they did that Elon and/or his online fanboys do not like.

I can’t possibly say this in simpler terms: They’re just making it all up.

I’D LIKE TO POINT OUT that this is a first for us as Americans. Never before has a presidential administration so openly wielded the power of the federal government as a blunt-force instrument to be used against fellow Americans, journalism outlets, and, yes, its political rivals. We’re in a new place now.

Their working theory seems to be that maybe they can cow their critics and the media itself into submission. Maybe they can more easily turn the government into a plaything for their own personal enrichment.

That’s the playbook. Here’s how it plays out in three steps:

First they threaten you. Then they create conspiracy theories about you. Then they hound you with an online mob to make sure you fall in line.

That’s gonna be a no from me, dawg.

You can join the fight or be political roadkill.

Implement a political version of Malwarebytes

Musk is the living embodiment of AI: a broken, tech-bro tool that inserts itself into everyone’s life unsolicited and makes everything worse. — Alex Winter

Donald Trump is acting like he’s a king the way he fooled the the New York Times (1976) into thinking he was a successful developer. The way he pretended to be a successful businessman on TV. It was a con job then. It’s a con job now.

Before we go any further, let’s review Ezra Klein’s “Don’t Believe Him” commentary from the other day on Donald Trump’s efforts to snow people into allowing him to act like a king despite the real limitations of presidential power. Like every move in Trump’s life, it’s a “fake it till you make it” put on. I had not seen the video version until last night and found it a useful tonic. Consider watching it a “take a deep breath” act of self care.

Take thirteen minutes, or bookmark this for later. This is from @ezraklein, taken from The Ezra Klein Show podcast. It explains precisely what this administration is doing and why it is essential to keep focus and not play into it.#DemsUnited #DemVoice1 pic.twitter.com/1AY2l0uIm1

— Izzy Ⓜ️Ⓜ️ 🇺🇸🦅 (@1zzyzyx1) February 4, 2025

Now then, despite Alex Winter’s pithy observations about tech-bro emotional brokenness and Paul Rosenberg’s “The intelligence is artificial. The stupidity is real,” the damage Elon Musk is doing in D.C. is also real. “Any pretense of public service has been abandoned,” writes Matt Ford at The New Republic. Musk is malware. Our goal now must be to implement a political version of Malwarebytes.

We took concerned calls over the weekend at our local headquarters asking where were congressional Democrats at the end of last week when Musk raided USAID, etc.? Short answer: at home in their districts. DNC members were in a scheduled multi-day meeting electing new leaders. That was the point of Musk’s timing. The “opposition,” as he calls them were unavailable.

Since returning to D.C. , however, Democrats have begun to rally. And to hold rallies:

We are at the US Treasury Department standing with our allies DEMANDING that tech oligarchs stay the hell away from essential programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid!

— Social Security Works (@socialsecurityworks.org) 2025-02-04T22:08:26.200Z

Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii announced a hold on all Trump nominees until Musk’s attacks on USAID, a vital tool for projecting U.S. soft power, are reversed.

Schatz organized an effort to stall Senate approval of Project 2025 kingpin Russell Vought:

At least three dozen Democratic senators will take part in a 30-hour talkathon to show they are fighting to stop Vought, a key author of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s far-right policy blueprint for Trump’s second term. Project 2025 calls for drastic cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. It also calls for a freeze on all federal grants, something Trump tried to impose last week but had to rescind because it sure looked illegal and left countless federal programs in disarray.

Update: We’re halfway through the night. I’m taking the 1am shift. Tune in. pic.twitter.com/LnXuIgSFBj

— Senator Brian Schatz (@SenBrianSchatz) February 6, 2025

Some friends were skeptical of the 50 states rallies held on Wednesday (they came out of nowhere and sparked concerns about false-flags), but they seem to have arisen organically like the George Floyd protests. And they took off around the nation.

50 states. 1 day. Thousands rally at state capitals & federal offices opposing Project 2025 & recent exec orders. Issues: USAID cuts, immigration, reproductive rights. Live updates from Peace Monument DC ↗️ www.usatoday.com/story/news/n… #50501Movement

— JenRemsik (@jenremsik.bsky.social) 2025-02-05T17:41:03.174Z

St. Paul, Minn., resist. It was so great to see love for humanity alongside disgust for foolish and dangerous leadership. #50501

— Glenn Hansen (@hansenhousecomm.bsky.social) 2025-02-05T23:04:36.902Z

TODAY: At least 100 people are rallying at the Ohio Statehouse to protest against President Donald Trump & Project 2025. This is part of the nationwide ‘50501 Movement,’ whose organizers say they oppose fascism & Trump’s executive orders and policies.@ohiocapitaljournal.com

— Morgan Trau (@morgantrau.bsky.social) 2025-02-05T21:25:21.154Z

Protestors have gathered outside of the Indianapolis Statehouse as part of the “50 States” anti-Trump protest. #hoosiersky #news #indy #indianapolis

— Noe Padilla (@noepadilla.bsky.social) 2025-02-05T17:28:10.501Z

Some early scenes from the 50 States 50 Marches rally in Springfield, IL on Wednesday

— Alex Degman (@alexdegman.bsky.social) 2025-02-05T18:29:13.267Z

"Between 200 to 300 people rallied at the 50 States, 50 Protests, 1 Day rally on the steps of Kentucky's State Capitol in Frankfort Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 to call for action to reign in President Donald Trump's executive actions since he (was) re-elected to office." – Matt Stone/Courier Journal

— My Friend Kaylen (@myfriendkaylen.bsky.social) 2025-02-05T21:28:01.414Z

Don’t get mad. Get busy.

(h/t AL)

Cuts are coming:

Staffers with Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly entered the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Department of Commerce in Washington DC today, inciting concerns of downsizing at the agency.

“They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former Noaa official who is now a fellow at the University of New Hampshire. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information.”

Project 2025, written by several former Trump staffers, has called for the agency to be “broken up and downsized”, claiming the agency is “harmful to US prosperity” for its role in climate science.

Staffers with Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly entered the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Department of Commerce in Washington DC today, inciting concerns of downsizing at the agency.

“They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former Noaa official who is now a fellow at the University of New Hampshire. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information.” …

Rosenberg noted it had been a longtime goal of corporations that rely on Noaa data to prevent the agency from making the data public, instead of giving it directly to private corporations that create products based on it, such as weather forecasting services.

What’s the objective?

Project 2025 includes about four pages on NOAA and the National Weather Service. That part was written by Thomas F. Gilman, who was an official in Trump’s Commerce Department.

The document describes NOAA as a primary component “of the climate change alarm industry” and said it “should be broken up and downsized.” 

The National Weather Service, one of six NOAA offices, provides weather and climate forecasts and warnings. The National Hurricane Center is part of the National Weather Service within NOAA.

Project 2025 would not outright end the National Weather Service. It says the agency “should focus on its data-gathering services,” and “should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.”

It said that “commercialization of weather technologies should be prioritized to ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested in the most cost-efficient technologies for high quality research and weather data.” Investing in commercial partners will increase competition, Project 2025 said.

Project 2025 also said the National Weather Service should become a “performance-based organization” held accountable for achieving specific results, even if the head of the agency must “deviate from government rules” to achieve those results.

The document said little about the National Hurricane Center. It said the administration should “review the work of the National Hurricane Center” and that “data collected by the department should be presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate.”

Sure, who needs reliable, science based weather and climate research and forecasting? And anyway, somebody should be able to make a buck off of it, amirite?

The fossil fuel industry would like to get rid of all climate science and under Musk and Trump they may succeed. But climate change is happening whether they like it or not.

Bondi made her first move and it’s purely about vengeance. Trump must be so pleased:

Attorney General Pam Bondi spent her first day on the job Wednesday redirecting the Justice Department’s significant law enforcement authority toward addressing President Donald Trump’s grievances with the agency, making her allegiance to his agenda clear in a series of strongly worded directives.

Despite pledging during her confirmation hearing that “politics will not play a part” in her decision-making, Bondi created a “Weaponization Working Group” to review instances of what she described as “politicized justice” – starting with the federal criminal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith. She also pledged to examine what she alleged was federal cooperation in the criminal and civil investigations of Trump in New York — even though they were carried out by state authorities, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Bondi ended the federal moratorium on the death penalty, paused federal justice grant funding for sanctuary cities and demanded “zealous advocacy” of the president’s agenda from the department’s more than 10,000 lawyers.

“Any attorney who because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief or appear in court, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law,” Bondi wrote in one directive she signed Wednesday.

All those “norms” Merrick Garland protected are now in the rubbish can. That worked out well.

All I can say is that I’m very glad Joe Biden pardoned his family and the J6 Committee members. Anyone who believes that doing that somehow empowers Trump or that it was unnecessary is a fool. The only reason Biden himself is safe is because of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling to protect Trump.