Mikey Likes It!

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

The idiot will destroy us all

First up, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Robbin' Felon and Maid Sassy"

Diana Ross has a song called "Keep An Eye" written by Ashford & Simpson. She first sang it with background singers on the Diana Ross & the Supremes album LOVE CHILD (1968) -- specifically with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson on backup vocals (no, Mary and Cindy did not sing on the track). And she sang it again on her solo debut album DIANA ROSS (1970) again with Ashford & Simpson on background vocals (they also produced the track) as well as The Andantes (who often did backing vocals in the place of Mary and Flo or Mary and Cindy when Diana led the Supremes) and Jackey Beavers.

With Convicted Felon Donald Chump, we always have to keep an eye out. Sabrina Haake (SALON) reports:

After I watched Donald Trump and JD Vance try to pressure Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into surrendering to Putin I felt sick. Trump wants Zelenskyy to agree to a ceasefire with no security guarantees and to “trust” Putin to honor his word. Zelenskyy knows Putin can’t be trusted, because Putin proved it with his 2014 invasion of Crimea and his 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and at all points in between when he murdered critics and disappeared rivals. When Zelenskyy tried to explain this basic history to Trump andVance, they accused him of “being disrespectful” and “trying to relitigate” the morals of the war for the cameras—cameras Trump arranged.

Putin has made his imperial ambitions clear. He is trying to rebuild the Soviet Empire, which includes not only Ukraine but Belarus, and possibly Poland. Any child can understand that a ceasefire with no U.S. security guarantees will give Putin time to replenish his military and attack again, which means a bad deal for Ukraine would be more deadly than no deal.

Instead of discussing these facts in good faith, Trump and Vance tag teamed each other for the cameras, hurling outrageous insults at Zelenskyy based on deliberate disinformation. I’ve never been so sorry. For Ukraine, for NATO, Europe, Taiwan and for America.

Friday’s meeting was arranged to discuss Trump’s demand for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, ostensible “payback” for US military support. Embracing full mafia braggadocio, Trump tried to extort Zelenskyy for the second time, demanding payment for past protection, and brought in the media to watch.

Vance relished his role in the melee. When Zelenskyy mentioned Russia’s aggression going back to 2014, Vance pistol whipped him with, “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media…You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

As Zelenskyy tried to respond, Vance, incredibly, asked, “Do you think that is respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?” then demanded, “Have you said thank you once?” The only thing missing from the scene was a box of fingers.

Miss Sassy trying to be butch. I can't think of anything funnier. Bat your mascared eyes for the camera, JD. And maybe put on a pretty little smock. He is our cross dressing vice president, after all.

How outrageous. It's so bad even weak ass Mike Johnson has to play standoffish. Maurício Alencar (THE DAILY BEAST) reports:

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson drew a clear dividing line between himself and President Donald Trump as he claimed Russian President resident Vladimir Putin was “dangerous” and “not to be trusted.”

In an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, the speaker of the House praised the president for his peacemaking efforts but said Putin was an “old school communist” and aggressor in the war with Ukraine.

[. . .]

When Bash questioned Johnson about his views on Putin, the speaker blasted the Russian president.

“I think Vladimir Putin is an old school communist, a former KGB agent, and he’s not to be trusted, and he is dangerous," Johnson said. “The way I view this is that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are engaged in a new axis, Axis powers, and they are not on America’s side.”

“Let’s be crystal clear about that,” he added.

Donald is a chump. He needs to realize how stupid he is. The only thing more threatening than an idiot is an idiot who thinks he's smart.

Here's C.I.'s "The snapshot:"

Monday, March 3, 2025. Are you a political YOUTUBEr on the left -- if so, do you know what you're doing? Really? And we look at Friday's Oval Office disaster and much more.

Let's start by being smart. If-if-if we only had more platforms!

We don't deserve more platforms if we can't get it right on what we already have.

To pick on THE HUMANIST REPORT for a moment, there are videos Mike did that never got up here even when I agreed with him. Even when I applauded him on something he said forty seconds to two minutes in.

Why?

He was addressing an important topic (not some garbage like 'Jon Stewart needs to be our next nominee for president!') such as a Moms For Bigotry attack on LGBTQ+ rights. But he opened his video with the attack. There was no Mike speaking to the camera saying, "What you are about to see is a disgusting attack on . . ."

It was just open the video with a clip giving the fright wing the mike and letting them spew whatever.

Need an example?

Brian Tyler Cohen, this is not smart.

Brian, are you trying to build support for Joe Rogan? Is that the point? For Elon? For killing Social Security?

"This is Elon Musk finally admitting what we knew all along," declares Brian . . .

One minute and twenty-five seconds into his video, Brian declares, "This is Elon Musk finally admitting what we knew all along."

Is it?

Then why didn't you say that at the top of the video?

Instead, you gave him one minute and 24 seconds to lie before you said a word.

Do you not get that?

Brian, do you really think that you are so important that all people hang on your every word?

Look at your own analyticals.

Keith Edwards, I'm sure, knows that in the first minutes after he goes over what he's going to address, before he makes the plug for his sponsor, is when most people who stream watch. That's no doubt why, he starts his videos that way.

At the one minute points, most viewers of that video above have already tuned out.

Alien Musk is making a bulls**t argument that was more effectively spouted -- and dressed up with pop culture references -- in Neil Howe and William Strauss' 13TH GEN: ABORT, RETRY, IGNORE, FAIL? which was published in 1993. Amidst the movie quotes and song and TV references, you'd find the authors stoking generational resentments as they advocated for the dismantling of Social Security and other programs.

What Brian did was take the most watched section of his video -- a nine minute video -- and allow Alien Musk to have free reign and spout nothing but nonsense.

Does he not grasp that Alien's nonsense has been peddled for decades?

Does he not realize that people are going to turn off his video?

Is it all just a commercial for Alien Musk and/or Joe Rogan?

It was Krystal Ball, after all, and her cohorts who went on Joe Rogan and praised Joe Rogan and told the left he was our friend. They did the same, please, remember, with Mother Tucker Carlson.

I think the 'left' has done enough damage to the left.

"Instead of telling us what people do wrong, how about telling us what we can do instead?"

That's an e-mail to the public e-mail account.

I talk all the time about how we can do better and ways in which we can do better. You may not like what I say but I do that all the time. Last night's "Rubio's political future goes up in smoke as Socialists on the Russian payroll attack Democrats" is about how the DSA f**ked the Democratic Party and the country over with their plan to deny Kamala Harris the presidency.

But if you need something a little more specific, that's one thing you can do. Stop starting your YOUTUBE videos with fright-wing talking points.

In fact, unless your plan is to refute every talking point, why are you even airing right wing talking points?

Alien Musk went on Joe Rogan to attack Social Security?

You don't need to play him. No one is going to be surprised and those who need to find it to believe it know how to use YOUTUBE already.

You presented lies -- via Elon's remarks -- that generations have been raised with.

And you really didn't refute them. You did a big picture refuting but you didn't go through each lie told.

So who got helped by your video?

Again, most people turned off by the first minute and found something else to watch.

What was the point of your video?

To reject Musk's lies? Then you should have said so before you started airing him. Instead you opened with a clip. And it's a clip of an attack that's now been made for decades. But you didn't note that. You just turned it over to Musk.

That's really shoddy work.

Let's note this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

DOGE employees may be sharing classified government information using insecure communications channels.

“These incidents – whether due to maliciousness or incompetence – are inexcusable and raise additional questions about DOGE employees’ access to highly sensitive personal and national security information, and what they are doing with it.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Representative Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, along with every Democratic member of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, including Ranking Member Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Eleanor Homes Norton (D-D.C.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), wrote to Elon Musk, opening an investigation into DOGE.gov following two recent incidents of alarming security failures and reports that DOGE employees shared sensitive government information using insecure communications channels.

DOGE has seized access to highly confidential government and personal information, including tax, Medicare, Social Security, and national security data, which has already led to multiple lawsuits. In just a matter of three weeks, DOGE employees have fed sensitive data into artificial intelligence software, ordered an unauthorized email server to be connected to the government network, and have accidentally been given “write” access to the U.S. Treasury payment system.

“DOGE employees do not appear to fully understand much of the information to which they have been given unfettered access, and given the cavalier and incompetent ways that they have handled this data, these individuals represent a clear threat to national security and the nation’s economy,” continued the lawmakers.

In fact, after the DOGE.gov website launched, two security researchers confirmed that the website was not hosted on secure government servers, making it especially vulnerable to third-party hackers. In particular, details on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which designs and builds U.S. intelligence satellites, were searchable within the database, as well as controlled information about the NRO’s budget and head count. This incident left federal intelligence employees “scrambling” to see if their sensitive information had been accessed.

“These examples of DOGE’s recklessness and inability to accomplish simple tasks – such as establishing a secure database and website housing such critical and confidential government data – combined with its broad access to government data and systems, poses a grave threat to the United States’ economy and national security,” wrote the lawmakers.

The lawmakers are requesting answers from Mr. Musk by March 6, 2025.

###

That's an issue people need to be hammering on. It has outraged the public and that's before you even get into Musk's outing American undercover agents. This is not minor. They have access that they shouldn't have and they demonstrate repeatedly that they can't keep the information secure.

Friday?

I had planned to cover other things this morning besides the next topic, however, Mike and Stan both argued it's too important so I'll try to adapt some of Saturday night's post here into the following.

Friday was The Day of Stupidity in the Oval Office.

Convicted Felon Donald Chump raged like a madman. Eyeliner wearing JD Vance tried to act tough and macho but just looked like he had a seven month food baby in his fat belly. A Russian outlet was given access to the Oval Office while REUTERS and AP were denied access. Then the White House tried to lie and say that the journalist from Russia just somehow managed to show up there -- is there no security in the White House? Did DOGE get rid of that as well?

Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following:

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on the meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office:

“Today in the Oval Office, in front of the entire world, Donald Trump and JD Vance chose to berate an American ally and side with a brutal dictator—willfully ignoring the plain fact that it was Putin who launched a deadly and unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation and started this awful war. Putin is the dictator with blood on his hands—and it is appalling, dangerous, and an affront to American values to pretend otherwise. Russian state media is already celebrating Trump’s disgraceful conduct in this meeting—this should be a wake-up call to everyone, and especially Republicans who have gone along with Trump’s acquiescence to Putin for far too long, to separate right from wrong, and truth from fiction.

“As I have said time and again, standing up for a strong and sovereign Ukraine in face of Putin’s aggression is not only the right thing to do, but it is squarely in America’s interest. As a U.S. Senator, I will continue to stand with Ukraine as they chart a path forward to protect their democracy and statehood.”

###

Most of all, Friday's event at the Oval Office demonstrated how hard up Marjorie Taylor Greene truly was. Her 'steady' showed up to ask a question: Why won't Zelensky wear a suit?

We've complained about that here in the past, by the way. We wouldn't complain about it now. Not only has John Fetterman's ridiculous Senate garb rendered that point moot, it's equally true that Alien Musk did a press briefing in the Oval Office in an outfit that he appeared to hae borroed from Marlo Thomas' THAT GIRL wardrobe.

So this was the big meet up where the peace plan got shredded -- as planned ahead of time by Chump.

And Marjoie's beau gets a question and he . . . makes it about wardrobe.

Hey, kids, MTG is dating a reporter for WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY!

Can't wait to see him dishing it with the other queens on FASHION POLICE!

This is what she left her husband for? This is what she left the father of her children for?

Video of the event just made clear how unhinged Donald Chump is. The video apparently ends before the nurse sedated the cranky old man and rolled him back to his room. It was appalling and it showed the whole world what a threat Chump is to it. It spat on allies and encouraged everyone to forsake the US for four years. If we're lucky, the country might be able to rebuild bridges with another president. Won't be JD Vance. Miss Sassy gets fatter every day as he eats his failure. And it won't be Marco Rubio. Could have been though. He's in a useless position that takes him nowhere. He's a nothing. A puppet in a corrupt administration.

The one time senator from Florida and the former presidential candidate was shocking on Friday. First, the appearance. He's long been accused of being too 'pretty' for the job of president. He looked flabby and that was his belly and his face. On his face, is it really that bad or were they just not bothering to light him? Second, the stupidity. When ambition outpaces brains, it's just sad and tragic. Marco has the ambition, he just lacks the brains.

This was how you position yourself for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination: You decry what took place and you offer to help try to salvage your relationship or they can take your resignation.

And you're set. It's not going to JD Vance whose everyone's ugly drunken uncle stuck in a nowhere job. But a dramatic moment here -- on an issue so many care about -- could've elevated Marco and made it appear he has actual leadership traits.

Instead, yesterday's cowardly poster boy looks like a bigger loser than ever . Lucy Leeson (INDEPENDENT) reports:

In an interview with CNN, Mr Rubio suggested Mr Zelensky’s behaviour leading up to the clash had been unacceptable.

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

Hey, Marco, what's Donald's ass taste like?

That's really the only question Rubio can answer anymore. He's nothing in the political world. He better be hoping he can line up a big lobbyist job because his career in government ends when Trump's term does -- if not sooner knowing Trump's inability to keep staff.

There are a lot of Republican unhappy with Chump right now. The first member of the administration to break with Chump could set themselves up for a real run at the White House in 2028.

Trump's dead in the water. The polling shows it. He's going nowhere. At some point, he's not even going to be able to threaten Republican members of Congress. They'll blow him off and find their spines as they (a) grow tired of the bully and (b) grasp that Alien Musk can't buy elections no matter how much he funds their opponents. All you have to do is point that out in your campaign: I represent America and my opponent in the primary will represent South African-born Alien Musk.

The press doesn't help Republicans by not knowing -- or noting -- what's going on.

Matt Laslo (RAW STORY) notes:

“The enemy is on the inside,” former Republican Virginia Congressman Denver Riggleman told Raw Story. “There’s so much fear, but we need to overcome that fear now, and the rational, the sane — those who care more about this country than securing mineral rights for their oligarch friends — might be the way we need to go now. This is America. This isn't Russia lite.”

But with Trump’s aides booting Ukranians from the White House grounds after Vance and Trump piled on Zelensky, critics fear the president is being played by propaganda

With tech billionaire and X owner Elon Musk working inside the White House, disinformation is now regularly flowing from the Oval Office, Riggleman said.

“What's happened is that we have such a disinformation and propaganda landscape based on social media and far-right alternative media that there's no way for us to understand how integrated lies are into our policy making,” he said.

What’s so dizzying to Riggleman — an Air Force veteran who went on to be a National Security Agency contractor — is that Ukraine, formally at least, remains an ally, whileRussia is, formally, a foe.

After today’s White House meeting blew up, Riggleman says it’s obvious Trump and Vance are going out of their way to appease the Russian strongman.

“They're specifically trying to make Putin happy. It's interesting that the most powerful country in the world is bending the knee to a bare-chested b— horse rider,” Riggleman said. “This is absolutely unconscionable, and, because of his insanity, he should be removed on the 25th Amendment.”

Yes, Chump did come off insane, unhinged. And that reality is now in everyone's mind -- even the press, even the right-wing. An insane man revealed himself on the world stage And it's going to be tht much harder for people to trust his judgment as a result.

The best favor he can do the country is to continue showing those moments and making it clear how unfit he is for office.

And the fallout has been intense. Charles Switzer (WONDERWALL) notes:

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran and vocal Donald Trump critic, expressed deep disappointment in how the U.S. is handling Russia's war in Ukraine. Following the chaotic Oval Office meeting where Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kinzinger declared that the U.S. is no longer on the side of the "good guys." He criticized Trump's continued praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and warned that America's credibility on the global stage is at risk.Here are four key points from the veteran's critique of Trump and Vance.

He flipped it and for no reason. Which feeds into everything else he's doing -- in the eyes of the public it feeds into everything else.

He doesn't know what he's doing. The time for benefit of the doubt for the middle and the right has ended. He's provided them with the ending and from this moment forward everything he proposes or does is suspect.

Anna Carlson (IRISH STAR) reports:

Vice President JD Vance's ski holiday in Vermont with his family was disrupted by a swarm of protestors following the tense face-off between the United States and Ukraine in the Oval Office.

The protests follow the calamitous meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which spiraled into a fiery confrontation spearheaded by Vance. The meeting began amicably until Vance verbally attacked Zelensky, completely catching him off guard.

[. . .]

The crowd shouted furious insults at the second-in-command. People held signs with harsh words against Vance, such as "Nazi scum" and "go skiing in Russia."

Between this and the town halls, the honeymoon truly is over. Hope JD got to wear his black lace nightie for Chump before the honeymoon ended.

Nnamdi Egwuonwu, Chloe Atkins and Gary Grumbach (NBC NEWS) report:

President Donald Trump's effort to remove the head of a federal watchdog agency was "unlawful," a federal judge in Washington, D.C., said Saturday.

The ruling sidelines Trump’s bid to remove Hampton Dellinger as the head of the Office of Special Counsel and is likely to set up a Supreme Court fight.

“The Special Counsel’s job is to look into and expose unethical or unlawful practices directed at federal civil servants, and to help ensure that whistleblowers who disclose fraud, waste, and abuse on the part of government agencies can do so without suffering reprisals,” Jackson wrote in her Saturday ruling. “It would be ironic, to say the least, and inimical to the ends furthered by the statute if the Special Counsel himself could be chilled in his work by fear of arbitrary or partisan removal.”

Trump fired Dellinger by email last month as his administration carried out widespread cuts to the federal workforce, including the terminations of nearly two dozen other government watchdogs.

Dellinger challenged the termination days later, arguing it violated federal law stating special counsels can only be removed by the president "for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office."

Let's hope the courts hold.

The following sites updated:

Sunday, March 02, 2025

Idiot of the Week and REACHER

First up, this.

Now for Idiot of the Week?

I don't like doing this, going with the same person two weeks in a row. But Idiot of the Week has to be Donald Chump.

His outrageous behavior in the Oval Office on Friday. It was stupid and it was dumb.

And that's as far as I could get. I wrote the above Saturday morning and just couldn't write anymore. It's just too depressing.

Or was.

Go read C.I.'s "Realities in ChuSo go read what she wrote. mp Land" and grasp what it all means. I love the way she writes. She lays out the significance of the moment and the meaning. So go read what she wrote.

Now for REACHER. SPOILERS ahead stop now if you don't want anything spoiled. The series streams on AMAZON. Four episodes have aired. It's a strong season so far.

It kicked off with Reacher in a small college town. He's at a small store on the town square trying to sale some vinyl albums. He sees something strange. And stops a kidnapping. He also shoots a cop by mistake and the kid still scared convinces Reacher to take him to his home and his criminal father.

And you're thinking, "Reacher shot a cop. He shot a cop and he killed the cop and he doesn't seem that bothered." And he's not.

Because it was all a planned fake. This is about Reacher's old enemy Quinn showing up. He's not dead. And Reacher is working with DEA agents -- Susan is the head agent. She sent in Teresa undercover before Reacher showed up and Teresa disappeared. She feels guilt over that.

Reacher thought he killed Quinn years ago. He did so after Khole, one of Reacher's staff, was brutally killed and strung up by Quinn.

The flashback are so much better this season. I'm not big on constant flashbacks to begin with. But season two had a big problem with the flashbacks feeling forced. This season, they're worked in better.

So the kid Reacher 'saved' thinks his father is a crook but, turns out, the kid was kidnapped at 15 by Quinn who cut off the kid's ear to force the kid's father to let him use the rug business as a front.

It's been moving really quick and it's a really strong season.

Here's C.I.'s "The snapshot:"

Friday, February 28, 2025. Donald Chump's erratic and confused nature does not instill confidence, polling reflects this as Americans reject The Chump-Musk Destroy America Campaign.

How are things for the Convicted Felon Donald Chump? Sarah K. Burris (RAW STORY) reports:

Longtime Republican Party pollster Sarah Longwell is conducting focus groups with voters of President Donald Trump — and she's beginning to see some "buyer remorse."

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace introduced the segment, playing the comments from a participant who voted for Trump.

"There's a lot of babies being tossed out with the bath water, to use an old-fashioned phrase, in this first few weeks and, of course, as usual, and I'm disappointed about this with President Trump because he served before, we're just forfeiting respect internationally daily," said one Trump voter.

"If we had a drinking game where everyone took a drink when word 'reverse course' or 'walking this back,' we'd be drunk in 20 minutes. It's chaos up there," he added.
"I think what we're starting to see is the very beginning of buyer's remorse setting in," said Longwell. "And the voters that I was talking to — both before the election — and after the election that are kind of these, we say, low-information. But we just mean people who aren't tapped into politics all the time. They voted for Donald Trump for one very specific reason. They thought things were too expensive. And they still think things are too expensive."

What is coming up now, she said, is that they don't like Trump's priorities.

"They're like, what is he focusing on? I didn't vote for this dismantling of the government!" said Longwell.

She noted that there are people online who are excited about DOGE, but the people she spoke to are citing friends or family members who are dealing with the government purge. This isn't just a "message" from Democrats.

"It's that people are experiencing negative personal consequences as a result," Longwell explained, noting Musk's work is simply that "vast."

Yasmeen Hamadeh (DAILY BEAST) notes:

“I think what we’re starting to see is the very beginning of buyer’s remorse setting in,” Longwell told MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on Deadline: White House. “And the voters that I was talking to both before the election and after … They voted for Donald Trump for one very specific reason—they thought things were too expensive, and they still think things are too expensive.”

The segment also played a few recordings sent over by frustrated Trump voters who detailed why they’ve been disappointed with the president’s moves so far.

It's not one issue, it's pretty much every issue that Chump's failing on. The economy? Paul Krugman (SUBSTACK) provides this overview:

Early this month Donald Trump announced that he was about to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Then he put them on pause for 30 days. So are they on again next week? Yesterday he insisted that they are. But will they really happen? Nobody knows.

Trump is also threatening a trade war with the European Union, which he says “was formed to screw the United States.” (It was actually created with America’s blessing, because we saw it as a force for peace and democracy.) Will he follow through on his threat? Nobody knows.

The legislation currently providing the federal government with the money it needs to stay open will expire on March 14, and it’s by no means clear that Republicans have the votes to continue that funding. So will the U.S. government shut down? Nobody knows (although betting markets say that there’s a better than even chance that it will.)

The real possibility of a general shutdown aside, will DOGE’s efforts to fire large numbers of federal workers — half the staff of the Social Security Administration! — cripple essential government services? Nobody knows.

The rising prices, the erratic behavior from the nation's supposed leader, the government layoffs, confidence in the economy is fading. Shawn Donnan and Claire Ballentine (BLOOMBERG NEWS) explain:

President Donald Trump’s plan to impose new tariffs on imports to force manufacturers to relocate production to the US is getting a skeptical reaction from one important audience: American consumers.

Almost 60% of US adults expect Trump’s tariffs will lead to higher prices, according to a Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg News. Some 44% say the levies are likely to be bad for the US economy — compared to 31% who say they’d be a boost.

On today's The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, Greg addresses American sentiment regarding the economy:

Sargent: Let’s start with this Bloomberg poll. Not only do 59 percent say Trump’s tariffs will bring higher prices, 61 percent say food prices have increased in the last month. Only 38 percent think the economy is working for them. All this is echoed by a whole bunch of other polls and by worsening consumer sentiment metrics. It’s worth pointing out, Andrew, that many economists agree with these majorities. They, too, say Trump’s tariffs will lead to rising prices. Your reaction to all of it?

Bates: Yeah, I think that he betrays the fundamental promise that he made to the country. I remember in the Republican National Convention speech, he told people on day one—that’s a direct quote—prices will fall across the board. He also said that inflation would end immediately—immediately is also a direct quote. He was very explicit about this. And of course that was a false promise. Tariffs are a tax, and they are a tax that is disproportionately paid by people who are not wealthy, people that spend a greater percent of their income on daily necessities, food, clothing.

And I think that what’s especially telling about this is the revenue that they make from these tariff taxes—the revenue they’re taking in from middle-class folks who they said they were going to fight for—they’re turning around and they’re using it to make room in the budget for tax giveaways to billionaires and big corporations. It’s like a Bernie Madoff scheme. They are trying to take money out of the bank accounts of hardworking people after they got their votes promising lower cost, lower prices. Instead, they’re actively raising prices that they said they were going to reduce, and taxing people for it, and they’re pocketing that money.

Sargent: It’s a funny thing, Andrew. Trump is explicit on this point because he keeps saying the tariffs are going to bring in gangbusters revenue. Well, what do they need the revenue for?

Bates: That’s right. Because they’re trying to add trillions to the deficit with tax giveaways for the wealthy. And you mentioned the DOGE cuts too. That also relates to this because while everybody is against waste—myself, every Democrat I’ve ever known—a lot of what they’re cutting is bone and not fat. For example, they fired people who have been in charge of fighting bird flu while egg prices are skyrocketing. They want to use the money that went to those salaries for tax cuts for the rich. And it’s also true of the Medicaid cuts and the Affordable Care Act cuts they want to make. That is also to accommodate tax welfare for the richest people in the country, for Elon Musk and for Donald Trump themselves. It’s just a total reverse of what they promised voters.

On the economy, remember that today's National Economic Blackout. Anne Marie Lee (CBS NEWS) noted yesterday:

Over the past few weeks, information has been spreading on social media about a nationwide economic protest called the "Feb 28 Economic Blackout."

The call to action — or rather inaction — is asking that American consumers refrain from making any purchases at major retailers on Friday, February 28. The protest comes as people continue to endure rising prices on everything from food and gas to housing and utilities, epitomized by the soaring cost of eggs which in January averaged $4.95 a dozen.

"I'm just not going to spend any money tomorrow," said Pat Gavin-Gordon, 83, who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gavin-Gordon learned of the boycott from an email circulated among a small group of friends of hers which she describes as "socially responsible women who try to do things for the community and help people."

A lifelong social activist, Gavin-Gordon said she marched along highway I-25 in Denver with civil rights leader Cesar Chavez in the 70s. She sees Friday's protest as a way to voice her disapproval of many things she said she sees going on today, from the cancellation of DEI by corporations to the Department of Government Efficiency's firing of thousands of federal workers.

"All these young people were being laid off for bad performance, which is not true at all," said Gavin-Gordon.

Also supporting the Economic Blackout is Isabel Cotarelo from Kingston, New York. "I'm all for 2/28 Economic Blackout to demonstrate that the majority of people don't agree with the way things are being taking over the richest man in the world, how the oligarchs are supporting this government and only care about enriching themselves," the 69-year-old artist told CBS MoneyWatch.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk — the world's richest person, with a net worth of $398 billion — has been tasked by President Trump to oversee DOGE, in slashing government spending and cutting the federal workforce.

"One day of Economic Blackout may not impact the corporations gravely, but they will see that there is action and that action, hopefully, will inspire more people to resist this horrendous path my dear country is going through," Cotarelo said.

On BLUESKY people are noting today's economic blackout.

Last night, Rachel Maddow covered the layoffs and the public support for the government workers as well as so many erratic and crazed things about Donald Chump's second failed presidency.

There is no stability.

Last weekend, Alien Musk -- in his role of presidential consort -- was demanding that federal employees e-mail him on Monday justifying their jobs. And some agencies told their staff to ignore the e-mail, don't respond. Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard were among the ones telling employees at the agencies they headed not to respond to the e-mail. Then Alien Musk announced that they had to reply or risk being fired. Then Donald Chump said it was "somewhat voluntary."

Is anyone in charge? Anyone rational and possibly on their meds? Chump and his administration can't be consistent from day to day. They have no idea what they're doing. That's why Musk keeps firing people only to realize their jobs are required and needed. The incompetence on display just signals how unprepared and unqualified Chump and his administration truly are.

How's life going for Alien Musk? Jennifer Bowers Bahney (RAW STORY) reports:

Some state lawmakers who formerly supported legislation to help Tesla bring in direct sales of its electrical vehicles have soured on the company, thanks to Elon Musk's divisive political activities.

Politico reported Thursday, "In the past, blue state Democrats and environmental groups pushed for allowing Tesla and other electric vehicle makers to set up shop rather than requiring customers to buy online. They saw it as a no-cost measure to support higher EV sales and slash transportation emissions."

Attitudes have changed, however, in statehouses across the country with lawmakers who are vehemently opposed to Musk's growing influence over the Trump administration.

And Lexi Lonas Cochran (THE HILL) observes::

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is urging top Tesla investors to review the company’s current valuation on behalf of her union’s members.

Weingarten, who heads one of the largest unions in the country, penned a letter Thursday pointing to drops in Tesla’s stock price, latest financial disclosures, electric vehicle (EV) competition and “deterioration” of brand as reasons for the review.

“Given these mounting concerns and the potential material impact on pension fund portfolios, I would appreciate a response detailing your firm’s assessment of Tesla’s current valuation and the steps you are taking to protect AFT members who are your clients and beneficiaries,” Weingarten said at the end of the letter.

The letter was sent to the CEOs of six asset managers, with the Tesla board and Elon Musk copied onto the message.

In the letter, Weingarten goes directly after Musk, saying he is a big reason people are losing trust in Tesla.

“According to the American EV Jobs Alliance, EV swing consumers—those open to EVs once costs drop—view Musk negatively, making customer expansion even harder. Just last week, Stifel analyst Stephen Gengaro declared that Tesla’s net favorability is at an all-time low at 3 percent, down from 9 percent in January 2024,” Weingarten wrote.

At MOTHER JONES, Clara Jeffery has a must read piece on Musk:

In the fall of 1984, when I was a senior in high school in Washington, DC, the protests at the South African Embassy began. Civil rights leaders met with the ambassador of South Africa on Thanksgiving Eve. Timed for maximum press coverage, that meeting became a sit-in, and that sit-in launched a movement. Soon, there were protests at consulates across the country. College students held rallies, built “shantytowns,” and pushed their schools to divest.

Area high school kids like me got in on protesting the embassy too. And we had a soundtrack. “Free Nelson Mandela” had been released by the Specials in March. The leader of that British ska band, Jerry Dammers, later admitted he didn’t know much about Mandela before he went to an anti-apartheid concert in the UK, where a long-simmering boycott movement was rolling into a boil. The DC music scene was pretty wild then—a bouillabaisse of go-go, R&B, punk, New Wave; there was breakdancing in the hallways during lunch hour—and for some of us, ska was sort of a unified field theory. Musically but also culturally. (If you have a racist friend / now is the time, now is the time for your friendship to end.)

But it wasn’t just kids who cosplayed in checked socks or porkpie hats. In 1985, a month after I started college, Artists Against Apartheid recorded Steven Van Zandt’s “(I Ain’t Going to Play) Sun City”—essentially the music world launching its own boycott on South Africa. The song was not (like, at all) great, but the wild cross-genre supergroup—DJ Kool Herc, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Gil Scott-Heron, Pat Benatar, Bono, and Miles Davis to name but a very, very few—guaranteed continual rotation on a relatively new cultural phenomenon: MTV.

We were getting a collective education: Because South Africa was so dependent on Black labor and exports, if industrialized nations withheld trade and investments, we could backstop Black South Africans who’d been directly resisting the Afrikaner regime for decades. So, suddenly, amazingly, we did. By 1986, Congress had imposed sanctions on South Africa and banned direct flights to it. Coca-Cola became the first major company to pull out of South Africa. Sports teams joined the musicians in refusing to play there. Divestment battles raged on campuses and boardrooms for the rest of the ’80s. And they worked. South Africa’s economy ground to a near halt. Mandela was freed in 1990, and negotiations to wind down apartheid began. By 1994, free elections were held and Mandela became president.

I found myself reconstructing this history recently, as the protests and boycotts against Tesla began. Do you need a reminder as to why? Okay: Tesla CEO Elon Musk—the world’s richest man, and Trump’s biggest campaign donor; an unelected, ketamine-happy, video game cheating, transphobic, subsidy–guzzling, deadbeat dad—is leading a bunch of scythe-wielding mini-me shitposters through innards of the federal government, harvesting and compromising the most essential data of every taxpayer, government contractor, and NGO in America. Oh, and he’s also supporting fascists, using apparent Nazi salutes, and blasting antisemitic and racist theories to his millions of followers.

Anyway, the dude is bad news. And he’s threatening to use his hundreds of billions—again, money he would not have without US subsidies—to take out any politician, foreign or domestic, who opposes his and Trump’s agenda, which is a mix of toxic masculinity, grift, and a seeming desire to return to a gauzy form of racial apartheid.

Words like “apartheid” and “Nazi” shouldn’t be tossed around lightly. Musk has denied he’s a Nazi, and that his salute was a Nazi salute. But clear-eyed commentators aren’t buying it, and white nationalists like Nick Fuentes are downright jubilant: “That was a straight up, like, Sieg Heil, like loving Hitler energy.” And then there’s Musk’s history. His maternal grandparents were, according to Musk’s own father, members of the Canadian neo-Nazi party who decamped to South Africa because they were fans of racial oppression. Musk has been pretty mum about what it was like to grow up in South Africa and the influence that had on him. (Today he holds US, Canadian, and South African citizenship.) But the fact is that many white South Africans who left at that time did so because their position of privilege was coming to an end.

In any case, once in the States, Musk joined forces with fellow South Africans Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and Roelof Botha—grandson of former South African leader Pik Botha; now the head of venture capital giant Sequoia Capital—to form PayPal. And they revealed themselves to be racial reactionaries. Thiel (who, according to his biographer, once called critiques of apartheid “overblown”) and Sacks wrote “The Case Against Affirmative Action” for Stanford Magazine in 1996. They’ve led concerted, organized attacks on DEI. Musk, who was under federal investigation for racial discrimination in his Tesla factories—that is, until Trump took over—is supporting extremist movements across the world, using Holocaust Remembrance Day to tell Germans they should no longer feel “guilt” over it, and echoing South Africans who claim they’re victims of “white genocide.”

So yes, some people are too quick to label people they don’t like as Nazis. But also, people who don’t want to be called Nazis should avoid giving Nazi salutes.

Apartheid is a huge issue here. You can see it in the attacks on people of color from the administration and you can see it in the attacks on modern day South Africa -- modern day South Africa where apartheid -- much to Musk's regret -- has ended. And good for Clara for making the connections. Some writers can churn out an entire book and never manage to grasp the obvious -- see Ava and my "Media: OWNED finds Eoin Higgins owned by bad journalism" for an example of how Higgins did just that.

This country never knew Musk. They knew a p.r. created dream. He wanted to sell Teslas and conservatives aren't big on electronic cars so he pandered to the left and he got rewarded with easy press and easy press. Most didn't even know, ten years ago as he was being pimped on THE SIMPSONS and elsewhere, that he was from another country and they certainly didn't grasp his support for racism. An e-mail accused me of 'othering' him.

You don't need to accuse me of that.

I'll gladly cop to it.

It's about time those of us of color learned how to turn othering back on White racists.

Yeah, America doesn't like him. He is the other. He's got a creepy voice, he looks ridiculous, his accent is laughable and he's corrupt as hell. He's unelected but he's determining who gets to keep a job and who doesn't and who's entitled to government services and who isn't and whether we -- Americans, real ones not abusers with triple citizenship -- owe our veterans.

I'm not one of those 'support the . . .' people. I've never been that. I'm not a jingoist.

But when we ask people to be prepared to die for this country -- or some lame brained scheme of some idiot who got into the Oval Office -- we keep the promises we made to them. That's why we've focused on VA issues here and covered VA hearings.

Not being an American -- he's not one, he had two citizenships before he bought his US citizenship -- he doesn't care about Americans who served in the US military. So he and Chump (who avoided military service with lies and with money) have no problem firing veterans who work at the VA. And they have no problems firing VA workers -- veterans and non-veterans -- who take care of basic needs including assistance hotline workers. They don't see the very real debt our country owes because of promises we made to people we were willing to send off to foreign lands.

Foreign. That's Musk. That's Chump. They're foreign to the basis of American life. Chump didn't care to learn about it and Musk was raised elsewhere.

Robert Reich (GUARDIAN) reports:

One of the unacknowledged advantages of the horrendous era we’ve entered is that it is revealing the putrid connections between great wealth and great power for all to see.

Oligarchs are fully exposed and they are defiant. It’s like hitting the “reveal codes” key on older computers that let you see everything.

On Wednesday, Jeff Bezos, the third-richest person in America, who bought the Washington Post in 2013, announced that the paper’s opinion section would henceforth focus on defending “personal liberties and free markets”.

Anything inconsistent with this view would not be published, according to his statement. “Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”

The Post’s opinion editor, David Shipley, promptly resigned, as he should have.

When they speak of ‘freedom’, what they actually seek is freedom from accountability

You’ll recall that Bezos barred the Post from endorsing Kamala Harris in the last weeks of the 2024 election. Subsequently, the paper wouldn’t print its cartoonist’s drawing showing Bezos and other oligarchs bowing to Trump, leading the cartoonist to resign.

Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, bought Twitter in 2022, laid off everyone who was filtering out hateful crap on the platform, renamed it X and turned it into a cesspool of lies in support of Trump.

Mark Zuckerberg, the second-richest person, has followed suit, allowing Facebook to emit lies, hate and bigotry in support of Trump’s lies, hate and bigotry.

All three of these men were in the first row at Trump’s inauguration. They, and other billionaires, have now exposed themselves for what they are.

They are the oligarchy. They continue to siphon off the wealth of the nation. They are supporting a tyrant who is promising them tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks that will make them even richer.

As sentiment continues to move against Chump and his attacks on We The People, Republicans in Congress are going to have to step up. The are living in a social media bubble if they still can't grasp just how angry voters are across the country over Chump and his foreign boyfriend attacking our country, our way of life and our history.

Chump ran from Project 2025. He lied throughout the campaign. And he did that because Project 2025 is offensive to the majority of Americans. Now he's implementing it and voters who voted for him are saying this isn't what we voted for.

He had to lie about it to get back into the White House.

Of course, the American people were going to turn on him.

Each day, he looks more of a liar, more of an incompetent and more of a crazed fool in the midst of cognitive decline. The polling doesn't usually allow you to increase your popularity when you're where he is now.

Smart GOPs in Congress would realize that voters -- especially swing voters -- reward those incumbents who appear to stand up for the American people to presidents. Still they cower and hide, unable to buy a clue. Writing at LGBTQ NATION, Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld explains:

“Enabler” is the term given to those who fail to act in stopping those who perpetuate abuse. “Passive bystander” or “bad Samaritan” is the name for people who are conscious of bad actions developing around them but fail to intervene.

I often wonder how Trump’s enablers can sleep at night and get back up in the morning, still willing to degrade and prostrate themselves by supporting those who attack our democratic institutions and seriously dismantle our country’s standing in the world.

Each time anyone enables an abusive action, they keep perpetrators and themselves further from the truth and from help, and they diminish themselves and their integrity more than just a bit.

Why does Trump eagerly respond as if he were Putin’s puppet? Does Trump simply respect Putin’s dictatorial powers? Or is Putin carrying some sort of incriminating evidence over Trump?

No matter what, Trump could not be any more aligned with Putin and his agenda to return Russia to its former empire and weaken the Western alliance than if he were a secret Russian agent.

Rabbi Joachim Prinz, a Berlin-based rabbi who fled Nazi Germany in 1937 concluded: “The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.”

For what is true in AIDS education and activism holds true for all forms of politics: “Silence = Death.”

So, where are the Republicans with any backbone?

Let's wind down with this: