Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

In case you were wondering about the war powers act, this is from former congressman Justin Amash:

The paid grifters, partisan hacks, and bots are out in force—misleading people about the Constitution and the law—to defend Trump’s unconstitutional war.

Here’s an important Iran war PSA: Contrary to what you may have heard about the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. §§ 1541–1550), it does not allow the president to take military action for any reason for 60–90 days without congressional approval so long as the president notifies Congress within 48 hours.

Section 1541(c) of the War Powers Resolution states clearly: “The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.”

Of the three cited authorities, not one indicates a presidential power to take unilateral (without Congress’s approval) offensive military action. The first two authorities allow the president to take offensive military action but only with Congress’s express approval (Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the exclusive power to declare war). The third authority allows the president to take defensive military action without Congress’s approval in the event of a specific type of national emergency, a sudden unforeseen attack on the United States (happening too quickly for Congress to meet) necessitating immediate action to protect Americans.

It’s for this last situation (or for situations in which the president introduces forces into hostilities unlawfully) that the War Powers Resolution provides for the oft-mentioned 48-hour report to Congress (§ 1543) and 60-day (up to 90-day) timeline (§ 1544). If there’s an attack in progress on the United States (i.e., currently happening), we expect the president to respond swiftly to neutralize the attack and protect Americans—and then we will hold the president to account.

The Framers of the Constitution agreed at the debates in the federal convention of 1787 that the president should have the “power to repel sudden attacks” but not the power to otherwise introduce forces into hostilities without congressional approval.

The War Powers Resolution does not confer any new authority on the president to take offensive military action without congressional approval—nor could it under our Constitution. It instead checks the president when, as the Framers contemplated, the president introduces our Armed Forces into hostilities to repel a sudden attack. The fact that previous presidents have violated both the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution does not—and cannot—change the law or make any present military action lawful.

Not that it matters anymore. He does what he wants and frankly, all presidents have been taking some form of unilateral actions for decades. Trump’s just not bothering to pretend otherwise.

I thought this was pretty good:

It’s crazy town.

Remember this?

Trump has just started a war in the middle east from Mar-a-lago. Apparently, he can’t even take on week-end away from his golf game. He made the announcement wearing a baseball cap.

In fact, they’re running the whole war from his golf club:

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine are monitoring the U.S. operation in Iran from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where Trump is currently located, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

It’s probably smart when you think about it. Gotta make sure our Dear Leader has his binky.

To anyone still gullible enough to fall for scummy media hoaxes: Trump said warmongering neocons love sending your kids to die for wars they would never fight themselves. Liz Cheney is Kamala’s top advisor. Liz wants to invade the whole Middle East. Kamala = WWIII. Trump = Peace.

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) November 1, 2024

How many fell for that nonsense?

He’s so far gone that he isn’t even pretending that there’s an actual reason for going to war in the middle east. He’s doing it because he can and he loves to demonstrate that. No doubt he believes that he will once again come out on top because he always does so he needn’t bother to explain himself. He is omnipotent.

In a more than 100-minute State of the Union on Tuesday, just a few days ago, Trump didn’t bring up Iran until more than one hour and 20 minutes into the speech, and even then, he offered no explanation for why an attack was in America’s national interest.

Surreally, Trump said in June 2025, when the U.S. military first attacked Iran (also with no effort by Trump to explain his decision to Americans beforehand), it “obliterated” the country’s nuclear weapons program. If that were true, it would suggest that an attack on the same program nine months later makes little sense. Trump said, “They [Iran] want to start it all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions,” but offered no evidence or, if it is true, why there is an urgency to attack now. Indeed, even U.S. officials acknowledge that Iran has not actively resumed its uranium enrichment program after last year’s joint U.S. and Israeli attack.

The only argument that Trump could muster for why Iran’s nuclear ambitions pose a threat to the United States is that Tehran has “already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”

So the threat to America is a nuclear bomb that doesn’t exist, perched on an intercontinental ballistic missile that isn’t close to being built?

Yeah, they’re said to be at least a decade away from that possibility.

Well, he did give one rationale for war. They haven’t said some magic words. Except they have:

Perhaps the most bizarre part of the approximately three minutes that Trump spent talking about Iran was the president’s claim that Tehran wants to make a deal, “but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’” Iranian officials have repeatedly said that they have no intention of building a nuclear weapon. After Trump’s speech, the country’s foreign minister said it again.

This is the new way. He uses the military the way he uses tariffs: to blackmail, threaten and punish anyone who doesn’t do his bidding exactly the way he wants them too, sometimes completely on a whim.

The age of the imperial presidency, which began after World War II and the advent of nuclear weapons, has led to a steady decline in national deliberation about the use of military force. But we’ve never had a situation like the one we have today with Iran. Trump isn’t even pretending to try to make the case for war. If anything, this is the imperial presidency on steroids — as Trump decides to go to war with zero input from Congress (no congressional hearings) and zero effort to rally public opinion. 

He knows the GOP will back him to the hilt and is so sure of his invincibility that he simply doesn’t think he needs to. He know he will be triumphant. In the end, he always is.

He’s even already getting a head start on the monuments he believes will be built to celebrate his greatness. The imperial presidency has its first real emperor.

Will his total immunity from all accountability extend to his henchmen? If history is any guide, no:

Isn't it amazing how @JDVance, @TulsiGabbard, Donald Trump and much of the Trump base suddenly are cheering on war with Iran after they all seemingly were against it?

How can you watch these clips below and not realize that you are getting played? pic.twitter.com/s8b1E1YmKh

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) February 28, 2026

Of course he did

Do y’all remember the president who railed against U.S. engagement in endless wars? This guy?

I inherited a total mess in Syria and Afghanistan, the “Endless Wars” of unlimited spending and death. During my campaign I said, very strongly, that these wars must finally end. We spend $50 Billion a year in Afghanistan and have hit them so hard that we are now talking peace…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2019

That was then. This is now (The New York Times):

The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday in a major assault that threatened a broader regional conflict, with President Trump vowing to devastate the country’s military, eliminate its nuclear program and bring about a change in its government.

Large explosions shook the Iranian capital, Tehran, where people reported seeing smoke rising from the district that includes the presidential palace. Witnesses described chaos in the streets as Iranians rushed to seek shelter, find loved ones or flee the city.

Mr. Trump, who had threatened a strike for weeks, vowed that the “massive and ongoing” campaign would target not just Iran’s nuclear program, which was the focus of a U.S. attack last June. Instead, Mr. Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social, the United States would “raze their missile industry to the ground” and “annihilate their navy,” arguing Iran had refused to reach a deal with the United States that would have averted war.

Dozens of U.S. strikes were carried out by attack planes from bases and aircraft carriers around the Middle East, with officials saying the initial focus was military assets. The attack also targeted the Iranian leadership, according to three Israeli security officials briefed on the campaign. Satellite imagery showed a plume of smoke and extensive damage at the compound of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, in Tehran, though his whereabouts were unclear.

I was elected on getting out of these ridiculous endless wars, where our great Military functions as a policing operation to the benefit of people who don’t even like the USA. The two most unhappy countries at this move are Russia & China, because they love seeing us bogged…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2019

Why are we attacking Iran, exactly? Does anyone know? Is it Trump’s retaliation against the world for not awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize?

Iran has vowed “crushing retaliation.” American casualties in the aftermath will further sour Americans already sour on adventurism like this.

Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, prompting booms as Israeli air defenses sought to repel them. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait — all of which host U.S. military bases — said they had come under attack, as did Jordan. Falling debris from an Iranian ballistic missile attack killed at least one person in the Emirates, according to its government.

Analysts warned that the fighting could easily devolve into a protracted war with no clear exit.

Mr. Trump suggested that the conflict might end with Iranians overthrowing their own authoritarian government after the American assault. “It will be yours to take,” Mr. Trump said, speaking to the Iranian public. “This will be probably your only chance for generations.”

Skeptics are skeptical. With good reason:

Skeptics of U.S. military intervention expressed doubt that they would ultimately result in an Iran that abandoned its nuclear program. Edward King, the president of Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates a restrained foreign policy, said diplomacy would have been a better path.

Rosemary Kelanic, a scholar at Defense Priorities, warned that it was easier to start a war in the Middle East than to end one. “The overriding imperative now is for the U.S. to avoid escalation into a prolonged conflict that wastes American power rather than enhances it,” she said.

This situation is evolving quickly. But The Hill:

Lawmakers are calling on Congress to convene earlier than planned next week to vote on a war powers resolution in light of widespread U.S. attacks on Iran.

“Donald Trump has launched a war on Iran and Congress must convene on Monday to vote on [Rep.] Thomas Massie’s [R-Ky.] and my war powers resolution to stop this war,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said in a video posted on X, arguing Americans do not want to be embroiled in an overseas conflict. 

Axios:

What they’re saying: “The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against Iran,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in a statement.

• “Every single Senator needs to go on the record about this dangerous, unnecessary, and idiotic action,” he added. Kaine had been planning to force a vote on his war powers resolution next week.
• Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) echoed Kaine’s calls, telling CNN on Saturday morning: “We should have Congress immediately go back into session for the War Powers vote to reassert the American people’s will, which, again, they don’t want to be at war. So I’m ready to go right back to the Senate today.”
• The House is not expected to return until Wednesday, and the Senate will return on Monday.

A new generation of chicken hawks will line up to cheer. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will be hot and bothered. Again. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) will be John Fetterman.

But is MAGA good with this? MAGA knows what it was promised, voted for, and didn’t get. MAGA hates being reminded. Trump just stuck his thumb in his base’s eye and killed off his party’s chances for holding the U.S. House in November.

A wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump Organization

Heather Cox Richardson, night owl, posted a lengthy summary very early this morning of a CBS report I missed entirely from Monday night. A heavily redacted, 69-page document released with the Epstein files reveals that, along with the sex trafficking investigation, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) began another investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and fourteen others in 2010. Code named “Chain Reaction,” this investigation focused on drug trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering.

Hovering in the background of the lurid child sex trafficking stories is the question of how Epstein made the money behind his private island, private jet, and multiple properties. The DEA’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) wanted to know too. The special unit was following the money Epstein stashed in Switzerland, France, the Cayman Islands and New York. Until Pam Bondi’s DOJ shut down the unit.

Under Analytical Findings, the 2015 report states, “DEA reporting indicates the above individuals are involved in illegitimate wire transfers which are tied to illicit drug and/or prostitution activities occurring in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York City.”

HCR adds (I’m adding her links):

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, described OCDETF as “a premier task force set up to identify, disrupt and dismantle major organized crime and drug trafficking operations.” It “worked with partners across federal agencies to conduct sophisticated investigations into transnational organized crime and money laundering. OCDETF frequently targeted dangerous drug cartels , the Russian mafia and violent gangs moving fentanyl and weapons.” The Trump administration dismantled OCDETF.

[…]

Wyden has been investigating the finances behind Epstein’s criminal sex trafficking organization. His investigation has turned up the information that JPMorgan Chase neglected to report more than $4 billion in suspicious financial transactions linked to Epstein. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has refused to produce the records to the Senate Finance Committee, and in September, Wyden introduced the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act (PETRA) to get access to them. In November, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but it did not cover Treasury financial records.

“The basic question here is whether a bunch of rich pedophiles and Epstein accomplices are going to face any consequences for their crimes,” Wyden said, “and Scott Bessent is doing his best to make sure they won’t. My head just about exploded when I heard Bessent say it wasn’t his department’s job to investigate these Epstein bank records…. From the beginning, my view has been that following the money is the key to identifying Epstein’s clients as well as the henchmen and banks that enabled his sex trafficking network. It’s past time for Bessent to quit running interference for pedophiles and give us the Epstein files he’s sitting on.”

When the CBS News reporters broke the story about the DEA investigation, Wyden said: “It appears Epstein was involved in criminal activity that went way beyond pedophilia and sex trafficking, which makes it even more outrageous that [Attorney General] Pam Bondi is sitting on several million unreleased files.”

CBS followed up on Thursday with more on the DEA investigation, quoting a letter Wyden sent to DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole:

“The fact that Epstein was under investigation by the DOJ’s OCDETF task force suggests that there was ample evidence indicating that Epstein was engaged in heavy drug trafficking and prostitution as part of cross-border criminal conspiracy,” Wyden writes. “This is incredibly disturbing and raises serious questions as to how this investigation by the DEA was handled.”

Not to mention that the names of those under investigation were blacked out in violation of provisions of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Wyden wrote:

Since Epstein and his 14 co-conspirators were never charged by the DOJ for drug trafficking or financial crimes, I am concerned that the DEA and DOJ during the first Trump Administration moved to terminate this investigation in order to protect pedophiles. I am also concerned that the excessive redactions of this memorandum for operation “Chain Reaction” go well beyond the intent of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which allows for redactions to protect the identity of victims, not members of a criminal sex trafficking organization. Since this memorandum designated as “sensitive but unclassified” there is no reason to withhold an unredacted version of this document from the U.S. Congress.

Au contraire, Wyden implies in subtext, the Trump administration must think there is. Follow the money.

Wyden asks Cole to provide by March 16 an unredacted copy of the OCDETF report and for answers to what “illicit drug activities” Epstein and others were engaged in. “Did the OCDETF or any other DOJ component recommend that Epstein and/or any of his 14 co-conspirators be charged with drug trafficking, money laundering or any other federal crimes that did not include sex or human trafficking?” Also, why were there never any drug trafficking or money laundering charges filed against any in the group? And what was the legal basis for redacting their names?

Stay tuned for more stonewalling.

The internet sensation: Punch!

A young, abandoned monkey named Punch went viral this month after he was filmed clinging to the stuffed toy that he had been given as a "surrogate mother."

Now, Punch is gradually building up his social skills. He's been spotted climbing on another monkey's back, and according… pic.twitter.com/2X7cb1QWMy

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 18, 2026

A young, abandoned monkey named Punch went viral this month after he was filmed clinging to the stuffed toy that he had been given as a “surrogate mother.” Now, Punch is gradually building up his social skills. He’s been spotted climbing on another monkey’s back, and according to the Ichikawa Zoo and local media he has been embraced by an older monkey, a sign that he is on his way to social acceptance.

Punch the monkey went viral recently after an interaction with other monkeys at the Ichikawa City Zoo left him seeking comfort in his stuffed orangutan.

Brogan Stewart, a Concordia University doctoral candidate in environmental science who studies animal behavior, explains why… pic.twitter.com/aZlcv4Jmdk

— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 26, 2026

He is everywhere!

Punch gets rejected for a hug and goes back to hug the plushie pic.twitter.com/a3C6wlvSCg

— Kakashi (@kkashi_yt) February 22, 2026

Latest Most heartwarming video of Little Punch till today💕

A hug what what he always wants pic.twitter.com/3WD2Bj7o5T

— Varsha Singh (@varshaparmar06) February 27, 2026

🚨JUST IN: Punch has now received a hug. pic.twitter.com/kn87DL7etY

— Out Of Context Punch (@OOCPUNCH) February 24, 2026

The monkey who is little Punch's protector now is Go-chan, who grew up in a circus where other monkeys bullied him.
Maybe it’s because pain recognizes pain.
Go-chan didn’t see a strange monkey. He saw a reflection.
Two souls who had both struggled to belong have found each other pic.twitter.com/d7gCLA0FXJ

— MaaikeDx 🖌 (@RembrandtsRoom) February 26, 2026

pic.twitter.com/71qhks2eed

— Código Magnético (@XiomaraSH1) February 25, 2026

Latest video 💕
Little Punch is busy in cleaning his stuffed toy pic.twitter.com/d0j84iHvxA

— Varsha Singh (@varshaparmar06) February 26, 2026

Punch update from Ichikawa Zoo:

Zookeeper: "He played with the other young monkeys without using his stuffed toy.

We received concerned comments about his left arm, like 'Is he injured?' but just to be sure, we had the vet check him out, and there's no abnormality.

He's… pic.twitter.com/dqE6uAOAlD

— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) February 26, 2026

Baby punch getting the love he deserves pic.twitter.com/3nLmMhRJ9s

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) February 22, 2026

If they’re calling First Ladies to testify about Epstein…

For much of the 1990s, Antoine Verglas was one of fashion’s most sought-after photographers, celebrated for his raw, natural-light portraits of supermodels including Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Tyra Banks, Gisele Bündchen, Naomi Campbell, and Stephanie Seymour. His work appeared in Elle, Vogue, GQ, Esquire, Maxim, and Sports Illustrated, helping define the era’s sensual, off-duty aesthetic.

Verglas also played a central role in launching Melania Trump’s modeling career after she arrived in the United States from Slovenia, photographing her roughly a dozen times—including capturing her most iconic nude images, among them the British GQ spread shot aboard Donald Trump’s private plane.

What has received far less scrutiny is how Verglas remained embedded in Jeffrey Epstein’s world—long after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution of a minor and his registration as a sex offender.

Verglas reveals just one degree of separation between Epstein and Melania and offers a window into the elite modeling ecosystem Epstein repeatedly exploited, where introductions became access points, visas became leverage, and young women moved through a world he had already learned how to control.

There really aren’t any degrees of separation between Epstein and Melania. She’s pictured with him dozens of times. They clearly knew each other. And she was close with their mutual friend:

Verglas didn’t just photograph Melania—he helped create the imagery that propelled her career: the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot with an inflatable orca; Maximum Golf, where she reclines in a bathtub covered in golf balls. Verglas has said he heard about Melania from Paolo Zampolli, a longtime associate of both Epstein’s and Trump’s who was running ID Models in 1999, shortly before Melania began seeking to secure her permanent residency in the US and at the height of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. Verglas said he did not know Epstein at the time.

According to The Washington Post, Melania ultimately obtained an EB-1 “Einstein visa,” reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability. Verglas photographed her again in 2011 for Haute Living.

Just as a reminder, Donald Trump also had a “modeling agency” during that period. (This story in The Guardian tells the sordid tale. ) Here he is with some of his models. To coin a phrase, “they’re on the younger side.”

Erin In The Morning, an excellent Substack about trans issues had this today:

Nine years ago, the Boy Scouts of America announced that it would begin accepting transgender youth into the program. In 2018, it opened its doors to girls, and in 2024, it rebranded as Scouting America. Transgender scouts were welcomed to participate alongside peers matching their gender identity, and the organization built out initiatives to be inclusive to people of all identities and creeds. That all came to a crashing halt today, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the organization would be dropping all diversity initiatives, putting more emphasis on faith, and forcibly outing and segregating transgender scouts from their peers—forcing them to only be acknowledged by their assigned sex at birth and segregating them from peers of their gender.

“After 2012, however, the Boy Scouts lost their way and a once great organization became gravely wounded. Diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, crept in. The name was changed to Scouting America. Girls were accepted. The focus on God as the ruler of the universe was watered down to include openness to humanism and earth-centered pagan religions… They even welcomed the destructive myth of gender fluidity and transgenderism to infiltrate their membership,” Hegseth said in a video posted to Twitter.

He then announced major changes at the organization, including new anti-transgender policies. “Scouting America has agreed to comply immediately with the provisions of executive order 14173. This includes reviewing and replacing politicized, divisive, and discriminatory language throughout the organization, programs, and all publications. No more DEI. Zero,” Hegseth said. “The Citizen in Society merit badge that encouraged scouts to explore diversity, equity, inclusion, and identity… that badge has been discontinued. Third, Scouting America will modify its policy to make clear that membership will be based solely on biological sex at birth and not gender identity. That means that the application, any application, will have only two sex designations, male and female, and the application must match the applicant’s birth certificate. Scouting will also make clear that biological boys and girls will not be allowed to occupy or share intimate spaces together, toilets, showers, tents, anywhere like that.”

He ended by saying that he wanted them to ban girls in the organization as well so that they will go back to turning boys into men.

I don’t know why Scouts are any of Hegseth’s business in the first place. Who the fuck does he think he is? And why in the world are they capitulating to him in a process that is going to hurt vulnerable, young kids? If I had a child of scouting age I would be forced to conclude that they are mean, nasty people and I wouldn’t want my kids involved with them.

I hope that everyone realizes that we are living through a period of rank, appalling bigotry that it will go down in history as one of the cruelest assaults on a small minority of powerless human beings who are hurting absolutely no one. It is utterly appalling.

This is a letter from a long time CBS producer:

“We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that.”

Says it all.