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The Eyes Have It

Published by Tom Sullivan on December 5, 2025

Yes, Bovino’s stormtroopers are that incompetent

Your eyes do not deceive you. The thugs Kristi Noem is hiring to harass citizens and non-citizens, in its drive to round up and deport “violent” non-white people for Donald Trump’s ethnic cleansing program are as dumb and brutish as hundreds of cell phone videos reveal.

In the Department of Homeland Security’s rush to hire 10,000 deportation officers by year’s end, Customs and Border Patrol’s (CBP) hiring and training standards have gone to hell. Recent hires include “recent high school graduates and applicants who can ‘barely read or write’ as well as those who lack basic physical fitness and even have pending criminal charges.” It’s the Daily Mail, but an unusually long report (emphasis mine):

Most of the new hires in the $30 billion initiative are retired law enforcement who are receiving virtual training and being repurposed for desk duty.

I’ve written since July, “If like me you have wondered if ICE is finding its masked agents on Craigslist and taking them unvetted, and if it seems that they must be getting their training in law enforcement over Zoom or over the weekend,” there’s your confirmation.

Meanwhile, total novices are being fast-tracked into the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, where instructors have been left astounded at the levels of incompetence.

‘We have people failing open-book tests and we have folks that can barely read or write English,’ one Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told the Daily Mail. 

‘We even had a 469-lb man sent to the academy whose own doctor certified him not at all fit for any physical activity.’

Insiders say the vetting process has been so rushed that officials didn’t even wait for drug test results to come back before hiring recruits and flying them off to Georgia, only to discover afterward that tests came back positive. 

Washington, D.C.-based DHS spokesliars like Tricia McLaughlin insist the department maintains the highest training and physical standards. Unnamed staff at the Brunswick, Georgia home of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) tell The Mail otherwise:

In one shocking incident, they were left shaking their heads when one student asked to be excused from class so he could attend a court date on a gun charge.

Other recruits were even discovered to have tattoos associated with gangs and white supremacists when they stripped off their shirts during workouts. 

Reports from FLETC include incidents of violence, disruptive behavior, and allegations of sexual misconduct on campus, most handled internally.

One recruit, 29-year-old Darien Coleman, was arrested by county police for allegedly exploding at a FLETC bus driver and smashing his phone, according to records obtained by the Daily Mail. He was described as a ‘known problem’ on campus who had just resigned when he demanded a ride from the driver.

Sources say another male recruit, after hitting the bars, was caught barging into a female dorm and hitting on the occupants. Another groped a woman in class.

DHS has widened its age brackets to help reach its goal. It’s raised its maximum age from 40 to 65 and lowered its minimum age from 21 to 18. That $50,000 signing bonus and starting salaries as high as $80,000 per year must sound pretty attractive. How far do recruits think those signing bonuses will carry them once no other employer will hire them with CBP/ICE in their work histories?

A former instructor tells the Mail:

‘Stephen Miller and Corey Lewandowski want what they want and are going to do whatever they have to do to get people through,’ the father said, referring, respectively, to the DHS adviser and Noem’s ‘de-facto’ chief of staff.

‘But once you’ve prostituted your hiring standard, you’ve prostituted everything,’ he added. 

‘Everyone from ICE sees what’s coming into the field and they’re f**king petrified.’

The DHS official sounded a similar alarm.

‘We do have some new recruits that are fantastic, but we’re now bringing people in who shouldn’t be hired at all into any federal government job, definitely not one that has a badge and a gun,’ the official said.

We’ve already seen agents trained to threaten protesters with arrest for “impeding” federal officers based on 18 USC 111 just for standing too close and filming their arrests. If that’s more than an empty threat, I’ve yet to see a video of them actually doing it. (Maybe a reader will update me.) If it were me, I’d remind agents that if they actually arrested me they’d have to explain, sans mask, before a federal judge just how filming them “forcibly” impeded or interfered with “the performance of official duties” per subsection 1. If it were me, I’d remind agents that after that pissed-off judge throws their case out of court, they’d personally face a lawsuit for violating my civil rights.

Marimar Martinez should file one against the agent who shot her. Makinge him an example would be a public service.

The Mail’s unnamed DHS official laments:

‘This isn’t the department of baking cookies,’ the source said. ‘This is the Department of Homeland Security, where you can be deported from the country. 

‘And we’re now employing people who are not equipped to tie their own shoelaces. 

‘This whole thing is a complete disaster from beginning to end.’

Now CBP’s Comandante Gregory Bovino and his thugs are concentrating on New Orleans. Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch reported from there on Thursday (gift link):

By the end of the day, observers tallied around 12 to 14 apparent arrests. There was no evidence that any of these people were on the list of 10 most-wanted actual criminals Homeland Security pictured along with Wednesday’s launch — catnip for the Fox News audience clinging to the delusional Big Lie that Team Bovino is only targeting bad guys.

Instead, his secret police just swarmed wherever they could find the most brown-skinned people — the Home Depot lot, a white van filled with contractors, Mexican restaurants — and acted like the gun-toting officer in the recent movie Civil War who famously asked, “What kind of American are you?”

In Bovino’s past operations, only a fraction of those arrested and facing deportation had criminal records — just 44 out of 370 in last month’s Charlotte op — and there was no evidence that Louisiana’s “Catahoula Crunch” would be any different.

DHS has turned on its head the old maxim, “You get what you pay for.”

* * * * *

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Make America Cough Again

Published by digby on December 4, 2025
1960s smog emergency depicted in “Mad Men”

If you are old enough to remember the days before the clean air act and you lived in or visited a big city like New York or L.A. you’ll remember how it was when you had “bad air days” and the sky was a yellowish brown and your eyes would water when you went outside. Those are the days Trump wants to return to, back when America was great:

President Trump on Wednesday threw the weight of the federal government behind vehicles that burn gasoline rather than electric cars, gutting one of the country’s most significant efforts to address climate change and thrusting the automobile industry into greater uncertainty.

Flanked by executives from major automakers in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said the Transportation Department would significantly weaken fuel efficiency requirements for tens of millions of new cars and light trucks. The administration claimed the changes would save Americans $109 billion over five years and shave $1,000 off the average cost of a new car.

The Biden administration’s stricter efficiency standards were designed to get more Americans to go electric. But Mr. Trump said they “forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs, drove up prices, and made the car much worse. This is a green new scam, and people were paying too much for a car that didn’t work as well.”

[…]

Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States, and Mr. Biden had adopted a carrot-and-stick approach to reducing these emissions. He offered tax credits to encourage motorists to buy electric cars while requiring that automakers meet stringent fuel efficiency standards to pressure them to sell more nonpolluting models.

Mr. Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress got rid of the tax credits earlier this year. They also eliminated fines for automakers who violate the fuel efficiency standards. And now the standards themselves will be watered down.

The automakers said they were happy but privately they aren’t happy about having re-tooled to accommodate the new technology only to be told they should go back to the 1960s. Not to mention that the tariffs have cost them billions and people aren’t buying new cars because of Trump’s shit economic policies. But they were there with him at the announcement clapping their flappers like a bunch of trained seals.

And I’m sure the housing and insurance industries are thrilled that we are no longer concerned about climate change. Apparently, houses are becoming uninsurable in places like Florida, California, parts of the Midwest where the changing weather patterns are causing massive liability. But that’s cool. Trump promises that climate change will create more beachfront property (what?) so everyone will soon be living on the ocean. Or something.

But it’s all good. The transportation Secretary, who has been recently concentrating on getting people to dress up in fancy clothes for their plane travel for some reason had this to say about the new rules:

Jesus H. Christ. This guy has truly bought the idea that everyone is yearning to live in the Brady Bunch.

Everyone is 12.

But What About Burisma?

Published by digby on December 4, 2025

I think what’s most galling about this is that they are just so blatant about it after spending four years torturing Hunter Biden. They even said he should not be allowed to sell his paintings because of the conflict of interest with his father in the White House.

This? Crickets.

A little-known start-up backed by Donald Trump Jr. just landed a multi-million dollar deal with his father’s administration to increase the domestic industrial supply of magnets.

Vulcan Elements, a tiny rare-earths start-up that received investments from Trump Jr.’s 1789 Capital venture firm in August, is slated for a roughly $620 million Defense Department loan under the deal, the Financial Times reports.

There is so much graft going on in this White house that I don’t think even years of Democratic majorities would ever be able to unravel it all. But Don Jr. should be at the top of the list for investigations. And every time MAGA screams like a banshee, the Democrats should just say , “Hunter Biden” and carry on. I know the cycle of retribution is a bad thing but Trump’s monstrous spawn simply cannot be allowed to get away with this.

The Experts Speak Out

Published by digby on December 4, 2025

Yes, Trump’s White House re-design is an abomination

It was not in disrepair. Now it looks like a bordello:

Huffington Post spoke with some designers about Trump’s big redecoration project:

“My first impression was that the redesign completely ignored the architecture it sits inside,” said interior designer Sarah Boardman. “The White House is a blend of Palladian and Georgian neoclassical design, with beautifully restrained Irish influences, soft curves, elegant proportions and detailed plasterwork that already provide all the ornament the room needs.”

She noted that past presidents have generally honored that foundation, even if they opted for slightly bolder carpets or richer fabrics.

“This redesign goes in the opposite direction,” Boardman said. “The gold isn’t integrated into the architecture ― it’s layered on top of it. The appliqués and ornaments look like they were purchased in bulk and installed everywhere instead of being thoughtfully selected. It has far more in common with French Baroque and Rococo, the Versailles ‘let them eat cake’ era, than anything in the White House’s actual design lineage.”

Trump knows nothing of American history and cares even less. This is about him and what it shows is his terrible taste.

Interior designer Kelley Wagner ― who has posted many TikTok critiques of the current president’s design choices ― also drew comparisons to Louis XIV’s Versailles and even the lavish interiors shown in images of Vladimir Putin’s purported residence.

“Both the Sun King’s Versailles and Putin’s home are ‘palaces,’ and were not designed to be public spaces,” she said. “It’s my belief that President Trump has a personal affinity for these motifs because he believes they convey opulence and power.”

They’re being polite here:

What makes the Versailles-esque approach particularly jarring, designers said, is how sharply it contrasts with the building it occupies, both symbolically and visually. Wagner noted that the Rococo-style gold appliqués now covering the space feel fundamentally mismatched.

“The sinewy motifs are at odds with the neoclassical style, which focuses more on geometric shapes,” she said. “Additionally, the direct application of these pieces onto the wallpaper, marble fireplace surround and the gold leafing of existing elements is a bit unconventional.”

No it’s not. Cheney our the McMansions on the Real Housewives of New Jersey and you’ll see that same hideous, busy gold and mirrors crapola all over the walls and the floors. I’m sure there are many homes just like it in Palm Beach as well. (One of the designers actually compares it to the grotesque tastelessness of the “Queen of Versailles” Jackie Siegel which is pretty apt.)

Fine. But this house doesn’t belong to this asshole and he has no right to do any of it. In fact, the whole thing should be taken over by a historical society and the president should only be allowed to redecorate the residence. It’s a public building.

Interior designer Diana Lombard believes Trump’s use of ornate, high-shine gold ultimately creates the opposite effect of what he likely intended. “Gold in a plated, high-shine finish tinges much more yellow than a true antique brass and ends up looking showy as opposed to distinguished,” she said. “Real brass, on the other hand, has depth, variation and subtlety. It’s a more nuanced, sophisticated gold that develops a natural patina over time and, in my opinion, more accurately represents craftsmanship and true luxury, and by extension signifies wealth much more than plated gold.”

Several experts noted that the gold in Trump’s Oval Office appears to skew almost green in photos, likely because of the lighting choices. That, too, makes the specific shade and finish feel out of place in the White House’s architectural context.

“When it sits next to the authentic gold-leaf frames of portraits like Washington or Franklin, the contrast is stark,” Boardman added. “One is historic craft ― the other is imitation. I’m not saying there isn’t a place for that aesthetic in certain settings. But this room and this architecture is not it. Because he left the existing wallpaper from his first administration, the gold clashes and the TV set lighting ramps up the canned gold.”

[…]

“As some have pointed out, some of the gold decals look mighty similar to cheap polyurethane decorations you can buy for as little as $1 on Chinese e-commerce website Alibaba,” Segalovich said.

And that says everything about the design, doesn’t it?

I think this does illustrate something important about Trump’s appeal, however. He was born rich and never knew a moment of want. He’s anything but a self-made man. But the fact is that the way he lives in this over-the-top baroque style that hasn’t been in fashion since the 19th century is exactly how his voters think rich people live. If they came into money most of them would decorate exactly the same way. It’s why “The Apprentice” was so popular.

He’s basically a cartoon and he’s turned the White House into a cartoon as well.

Here’s a more tasteful, genuinely American approach:

Following In Saddam’s Footsteps

Published by digby on December 4, 2025

When American public buildings are named after a leader or other notable person it’s usually done by other people to honor their legacy and accomplishments.

Not anymore. Trump’s just doing it himself now:

A dormant government building in the nation’s capital may seem like an unlikely setting for the signing of a peace deal. But nearly nine months after the Trump administration seized control of the U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters in an extraordinary public showdown and all but shuttered it, the center has re-emerged, newly named for President Trump.

The morning before Mr. Trump was scheduled to host a signing ceremony at the institute with the presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, workers arrived at the building on the National Mall to install Mr. Trump’s name in large, silver letters to two sides of the exterior of the building, positioning his name to the left of where the institute’s name was already engraved into the facade.

The result was a re-dubbing of the building as the “Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace.”

The White House confirmed on Wednesday evening that the institute had been renamed for the president “as a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability,” Anna Kelly, a spokeswoman, said. “Congratulations, world!” she added.

The fact that he’s done that at the very moment he’s murdering people on the high seas and preparing to bomb another country to depose its leader and steal its oil is just

Nobody’s Buying It

Published by digby on December 4, 2025

Keep saying that, Trump:

The poll underscores just how pervasive the affordability crisis cuts across Americans’ everyday lives. A 45 percent plurality list grocery costs as the most challenging things to afford, followed by 38 percent who say housing costs and 34 percent who say health care. (Respondents could select multiple responses.)

Forty-three percent of Americans — including 31 percent of Trump voters — say there is less economic opportunity in the U.S. now than there has been in the past.

Other indicators present a similarly bleak view: Consumer sentiment fell in November to one of its lowest levels on record, according to the University of Michigan.

And while Trump frequently points to his predecessor to deflect blame for inflation and high prices, the survey reveals that defense is starting to crack.

More Americans say Trump holds most or all responsibility for the economy (46 percent) than say Biden does (29 percent).

The ads just write themselves.

Trump is so verbally incontinent these days that I doubt this is going to help. And he is completely incapable of saying anything close to “I feel you pain.” He’s going to gaslight the voters with his usual bragging and complaining but I think his schtick is finally getting old:

President Trump, staring down criticism that he’s prioritized global issues over pocketbook worries, next week will kick off a year of heavy stateside travel that’s focused on selling his economic agenda ahead of the midterms. Trump’s approval rating has sunk as he has pursued peace deals around the globe and “narco-terrorists” in the Caribbean, while Americans have become more pessimistic about affording a better life.

With Republicans in danger of losing control of the House next November, Trump needs to be a lift — not a drag — in tough districts if the GOP is to defy powerful historic trends and keep its majority.

Trump’s new push begins Tuesday in the vital battleground of northeastern Pennsylvania. We’re told the president will aggressively push back against criticism over the cost of everyday essentials — an issue that helped propel him to victory over Kamala Harris last year.

The president’s growing irritation over how voters view his economic agenda has been bubbling over in his public remarks. He has repeatedly insisted prices are coming down, and has called Democrats’ focus on affordability a “hoax” and “con job.”

He’s floated several proposals to try to address cost-of-living concerns, including $2,000 tariff rebate checks and 50-year mortgages.

White House aides see Trump as the Republican Party’s best salesman — and its best chance to reverse falling poll numbers for both the president and his party. Trump is expected to use Tuesday’s event to highlight what he’s done to help the economy during his second term in office.

Yeah, that’ll work.

Court Order? What Court Order?

Published by Tom Sullivan on December 4, 2025

Your freedoms on Trumpism

Got yer domestic terrorism right here.

David Bier on FKA Twitter:

We now have a Population Control Police statement claiming: “She refused to cooperate and identify herself with all levels of law enforcement there.” She shouldn’t have to! We don’t live in a police state. We desperately need to give these people new employment.

Miami Herald has this story:

A woman in medical scrubs who was driving on U.S. 1 in the Florida Keys Wednesday morning was stopped by federal immigration agents and forcibly removed from her car, despite screaming she was an American citizen.

About 9:15 a.m. in Key Largo, in front of the Pink Plaza at mile marker 103.4, federal agents stopped the woman driving a white Toyota Corolla and surrounded the vehicle. Video recorded by a Miami Herald reporter shows an agent pulling the woman from her car. Agents with ICE, CBP and U.S Border Patrol could be seen.

She can be heard screaming as agents attempted to handcuff her.

“I’m a U.S. citizen, please help me,” she shouted after agents forced her to the ground. “This is unfair. Why are you doing this to me?”

Agents then placed her in a patrol vehicle. She was released a short time later.

The Herald could not catch the woman for comment before she drove off.

This is not law enforcement. It’s domestic terrorism.

Any Lucia López Belloza was flying home from Boston to surprise her parents for Thanksgiving. Instead, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested her (The Guardian):

She was allowed a phone call to her parents, who contacted a lawyer. The next day, a federal judge issued an emergency order barring her removal from the US for at least 72 hours until her case could be reviewed.

But the next morning, she was shackled at her wrists, ankles and waist and deported to her native Honduras, a country which she left at the age of seven and of which she has virtually no memory.

Court order? What court order?

President No Man

ACLU press release:

WASHINGTON – Late last night [Dec. 2], a federal court judge issued a ruling in Escobar Molina et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., temporarily blocking the Trump administration from continuing to carry out unlawful civil immigration arrests in Washington, D.C.

While the case proceeds, this injunction prohibits immigration agents from arresting people without a warrant or probable cause of unlawful immigration status and flight risk, as required by immigration law. Agents can arrest someone without a warrant only when they’ve established probable cause that the person is in the United States in violation of the law and that they are a flight risk.

The issue with the deportation of Any Lucia López Belloza, as it was with the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is that the Donald Trump administration has established a pattern of defying court orders. If no man is above the law, then Trump is President No Man. As we’ve seen with the killings at sea ordered by Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Defense Secretary does not recognize the rule of law either.

And it’s not just immigration. Or Trump’s phony war.

Democracy Docket:

When a court ruled that Alina Habba’s appointment as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey was illegal, it unequivocally disqualified a loyalist to President Donald Trump from a key post.

But two days later, both Habba and the Department of Justice (DOJ) continue to claim that she is the top federal prosecutor in the state.

It’s part of a pattern. Last month, a federal judge drew a similar conclusion about Lindsey Halligan, another one of Trump’s temporary appointees. But the DOJ continues to describe her as a U.S. attorney — often even dropping “acting” from her title.

What an absolute disgrace. There must be consequences for this. www.democracydocket.com/analysis/lin…

— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) 2025-12-03T23:34:37.506Z

If Trump 2.0 refuses to acknowledge the authority of federal courts, what’s the difference between him and an “elected” dictator?

* * * * *

Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?

No King’s One Million Rising movement 
50501 
May Day Strong
Freedom Over Fascism Toolkit
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink 
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense

101st Scapegoat Brigade

Published by Tom Sullivan on December 4, 2025

You can’t handle the responsibility!

“The Daily Show” addresses the Trump administation’s fall-guy shortage. (Love the women’s jacket jab.)

* * * * *

Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?

No King’s One Million Rising movement 
50501 
May Day Strong
Freedom Over Fascism Toolkit
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink 
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense

Hegseth Did It

Published by digby on December 3, 2025

That’s from credentialed Pentagon reporter Laura Loomer. It’s pretty clear why Hegseth replaced the professional press corp with MAGA influencers.

Here’s the real story:

For nearly nine months, Trump-administration officials have defended top national-security leaders who shared information in a Signal chat about U.S. strikes in Yemen, first reported by The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was inadvertently included in the group. Officials played down the severity of the breach and insisted that the information wasn’t classified.

Now the Pentagon’s top watchdog has concluded that the information Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared in the chat could have put the mission, U.S. personnel, and national security at risk had it fallen into the wrong hands. The information Hegseth shared included the precise times that fighter pilots would attack their targets, the sort of information ordinarily shared only on secure platforms. If Houthi militants had learned those details in advance, they might have been able to shoot down American planes or better defend their positions.

The Defense Department inspector general found that while the mission ultimately was not jeopardized, Hegseth violated his department’s own policies when he used Signal, a commercial messaging app that is not approved for sharing classified information. The IG’s report, scheduled to be published on Thursday, was described to us by numerous U.S. officials familiar with its findings.

The report also found that the information Hegseth shared was classified at the time he received it. (Trump administration officials had tried publicly to argue otherwise.) Battlefield information like what Hegseth shared is routinely classified because of the risk it would pose to U.S. forces were it exposed. U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for military operations in the Middle East, had classified the information about the air strike as secret, according to defense officials who spoke with us on the condition of anonymity.

But the report also found that Hegseth, as the secretary, had the authority to declassify information, Kelly noted. Less clear is why Hegseth thought it was appropriate or necessary to do so. The secretary did not give an interview to the inspector general, according to people familiar with the matter.

[…]

Remember, they also added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the signal chat.

The White House stands behind Pete, of course. But the consequences are obvious:

The inspector general’s conclusions seem likely to create an impression among the military rank and file that there are two sets of rules: one for the Defense Department’s presidentially appointed leadership, and one for everyone else.

Well, that’s obviously true.