Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Thom Hartmann has an important column

 First up, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS   "White House Service: Donald Tries To Please His Man" 


ding bat


That's hilarious.  


And if we live through the next four years, we'll be able to jeer, boo and laugh as Chump leaves the White House.


Who does justice apply to?  Apparently not MAGA.  Chump is a Convicted Felon who has not served time.  The insurrectionists who committed treason should have faced firing squads.  And now we have a domestic abuser who can't even get arrested.   Sophie Clark (NEWSWEEK) reports:


An attempt by the Washington, D.C. police to arrest a Republican member of Congress was pushed back by the U.S. Attorney's Office, whose acting head recently identified himself one of "Trumps' lawyers."

The D.C. police had requested an arrest warrant for Congressman Cory Mills to be signed by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (D.C.), as part of their investigation into an assault reported by a 27-year old woman at a D.C. apartment.


The U.S. Attorney's office sent the warrant back, unsigned, and said the case needed further investigation, according to NBC4 and POLITICO. The case is also now being investigated by police internal affairs.

Mills' office told Newsweek that he "vehemently denies any wrongdoing whatsoever."


Oh, okay.  As long as he "vehemently denies any wrongdoing."  We always give a pass to those who "vehemently deny wrongdoing," right?

Wrong.  My father's a police officer.  I called him and asked him if he'd heard this nonsense.  He couldn't stop laughing.  And he said this is further proof of how crooked Donald Chump is. 



Martin is a 2020 election denier and longtime far-right activist who President Donald Trump officially selected as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, after naming his as interim U.S. attorney after his second inauguration. Martin was previously a defense counsel for participants in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Earlier on Monday, his office sent a tweet accusing the Associated Press of "refus[ing] to put America first." He also referred to U.S. attorneys as "President Trumps'[sic] lawyers," though he was fact-checked by an X community note that read: "The DOJ is not the personal law firm of the President."

Mills, who was elected in 2022, is married and has two children. In a statement, the Florida Republican maintained his innocence.

"This week, law enforcement was asked to resolve a private matter at Congressman Mills’ residence," the statement read. "Congressman Mills vehemently denies any wrongdoing whatsoever, and is confident any investigation will clear this matter quickly."

Thom Hartmann has a column arguing in favor of gerrymandering.  I don't favor that.  But he points out it might be the only thing that forces a change on the system.  Gerrymandering is already being used by Republican controlled states to control the US House of Representatives. He makes a very convincing argument and, honestly, has won me over.  Here's his conclusion:



It’s time for Democrats to start fighting back: They need to put their three extra men on the field.

— Democratic states, instead of rejecting gerrymanders, should start to aggressively gerrymander like Republican states have done; it could produce a near-permanent Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

— Democratic states should start mailing postcards into rural Red areas, purging Republican voters who fail to return them from the rolls.

— Democratic election judges should, as Republicans often do, aggressive challenge mail-in voter’s signatures in GOP-heavy areas, leading to the rejection of their ballots.

None of these things are “fair” but all are “legal.” It’s called fighting fire with fire.

And if Democrats were to do these simple things, in addition to winning more seats in the House and state legislatures, it would evoke howls of “unfair” from Republicans. Those protests, in turn, may even lead to Republicans working with Democrats to reform our voting system to make it easy for everybody in America to vote. (Not holding my breath, but just saying…)

Instead, Republicans are on the verge of passing the SAVE act that will prevent millions, perhaps tens of millions, of married women who haven’t gone to court to change their names after marriage from voting in 2026 and 2028. And Democratic leadership isn’t even making a concerted effort to let Americans know about it!

As distasteful as it may be, Democrats need to suck it up and fight Republicans on the field by using the new rules the Republican-controlled Supreme Court has defined over the past decade.

Otherwise, prepare for even more losses in the next two election cycles.



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


Tuesday, February 25, 2025.  Musk has put the nation at risk and it's a story the country is interested in but Democrats are silent when they should be speaking about this to the media.  Our focus today is on how Musk has put undercover CIA agents at risk through his incompetence.



You may be the stupidest person on the face of the planet.  Yes, you may be Convicted Felon Donald Chump.  But even your stupidity does not act as an excuse for the outing of CIA agents.  

We've been here before.  Valerie Plame was outed by the Bully Boy Bus administration.  Some didn't get the point then.  Some pretended they did.  (Glenneth Greenwald was a great pretender and a strong poser who made an idiot of himself when he went on to out a CIA agent -- and got called out for it by THE NEW YORK POST during Barack Obama's second term as president.)

Stupidity isn't an excuse for Chump.

He put an idiot with no experience in place and that idiot has exposed undercover CIA agents.




The Central Intelligence Agency is conducting an assessment of their own security after a White House email about civil service layoffs appeared to compromise the names of certain undercover officers, reported CNN on Monday.

This damage control, reported CNN, is "just one of multiple aftershocks from President Donald Trump’s push to take a jackhammer to the federal government — including the CIA. The administration’s efforts to cut the workforce and audit spending at the CIA and elsewhere threaten to jeopardize some of the government’s most sensitive work, current and former U.S. officials familiar with internal deliberations say."


The CIA first began discussing layoffs amid tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force and its rampage through agencies across the executive branch, originally billed as a mass buyout that would infuse "renewed energy" into intelligence operations.

However, chaos erupted after the White House sent an email over an unclassified server suggesting the layoffs of a number of CIA employees who were on probationary status due to being recent hires — which may have included the first and last names of some undercover agents.
Making matters worse, said the report, "some U.S. embassy positions that are actually filled by CIA officers under cover may now be at risk of being revealed — potentially angering the host nation and exposing companies or endangering CIA assets who are known to have met with past occupants of the role."

Grasp what the South African born Alien Musk has now done.  Valerie Plame?  Robert Novack and others outing her in the press -- or Glenneth outing a CIA agents?  That's the media.  Freedom of speech protects that and should.  But before Bully Boy Bush went into the White House, his father was already there.  And it was under his father that the only real law on outing CIA agents came into place.  Government employees and officials -- that would be Musk -- can be prosecuted.  



 The agency launched an assessment to determine just how much damage was done by the email, which was sent in early February amid President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the federal workforce via the Department of Government Efficiency.

DOGE’s breakneck speed in firing tens of thousands workers has officials fearing harsh consequences. U.S. officials told CNN that Musk’s minions may “jeopardize some of the government’s most sensitive work” if the alleged recklessness keeps up.

Perhaps the most chilling of those fears, some in the CIA’s leadership told CNN, is the possibility that a “group” of disgruntled CIA agents swept up in a mass layoff—or pressured into taking a buyout—may take their sensitive knowledge to a foreign intelligence agency.


Edward Coristine, a protege of Elon Musk’s at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who has already gained notoriety for his checkered early tech career and for glorying in the nickname “Big Balls”, is the grandson of a KGB spy, according to a new report.

Coristine, 19, dropped out of Northeastern University to find work in Silicon Valley, only to be fired from a cybersecurity internship last year for allegedly leaking insider information to a rival company and accused of frequenting Telegram and Discord communities linked to cybercrime.


Donald Chump put Musk in charge.  There was no reason to do so.  He'd already been assessed as a security threat by the US government.  But Donald gave him unfiltered and unlimited access to US data -- confidential data.


The CIA is conducting an internal formal review to assess any potential damage caused by an unclassified email sent to the White House that discussed possible layoffs, using names and initials that had the potential to expose undercover officers, a source familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.

The email, sent in early February, was part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plan to cut the workforce and spending of the federal government.

The Trump administration’s continuous efforts to audit federal organizations threaten to jeopardize the government’s most sensitive work, CNN reported, citing current and former US officials familiar with internal deliberations.


Alien Musk has clearly broken the law -- I'm sure Steve Bannon will be all of this, covering it from the right.  

Musk was never fit for this job and should never have access to the American people's data.

He should be in prison right now for his 'mistake' -- if it was a mistake.  Considering his history, his actions seem intentional.

Here's the good news for our government -- Chump created this post.  Therefore, it did not require Senate confirmation.

This isn't Pete Hegseth, fresh off a Senate confirmation, making a fool of everyone who voted to confirm him by outing undercover CIA agents.

Right now, a normal follow up would be the appointment of a special counsel but, as we all know, Chump doesn't believe in that.

He's the man who put Musk in charge, he's the one who gave him access to our secrets.  And Musk outing CIA agents?

That falls on Convicted Felon Donald Chump.

Cleary, Chump is not up to the job.  Clearly, Chump would be impeached for this did MAGA idiots not control the House (for now). 

Chump has yet again demonstrated that he does not have the knowledge or the character to be president of the United States.

Let's talk about some more idiots.  Senator Ron Wyden 's office issued the following:

WATCH: Wyden’s Exchange with University of Oregon’s Presidential Chair in Science, Dr. Richmond Here 

Washington, D.C. — During a hearing held in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., underscored that Elon Musk’s business dealings in China pose a serious threat to national security. 

According to public reporting, Elon Musk is running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a federal employee while remaining Tesla’s largest shareholder. Public filings indicate Tesla invested billions of dollars in China and annually produces nearly 1 million cars at a factory in Shanghai on land owned by the Chinese government.

“According to public reporting, Tesla’s contract allows the Chinese government to revoke Tesla’s lease on the land at any time if it determines doing so is in the public interest,” Wyden said. “Now, on this committee, every one of us works for the AMERICAN public interest. And given that is our highest priority, I intend to come back and ask further questions about this in the days ahead.”

Senator Wyden also questioned Dr. Geraldine Richmond, Presidential Chair in Science at the University of Oregon and former Under Secretary for Science and Innovation at the Department of Energy, on the national security consequences of Musk’s decision to make drastic and abrupt workforce cuts at the Bonneville Power Administration. Dr. Richmond emphasized that these cuts would undermine the grid’s safety and drive up energy prices for working families across America. 

Last week, Senator Wyden demanded answers from the Trump administration in a letter regarding Musk’s workforce cuts at the Bonneville Power Administration. 

###

Oh.

So, Ron, you do get the importance of national security and the threat to it that Musk can be.  

Hmm.

Well where the hell is your press release on that?

Same goes for Mark Warner.  Both Democrats are on the Senate intelligence committee.

They are saying nothing.  Not one word.

The media is actually paying attention to this moment, to the outing of CIA agents.  And yet the Democrats are AWOL.

They're not feeding the news cycle at all.

There are some non-MAGA Republicans who supported Chump.

And they can be peeled off via this issue just as the outing of Valerie Plame hurt Bully Boy Bush wihtin his own party.

But people have to know what went down.

It feeds into the perception that Musk is not to be trusted.

This is not a story you have to try to get the press interested in.

Later today, Dems will hold a press conference and, sadly, they'll probably continue to ignore this topic.  It's an important one.

It's an indictment of Chump's stupidity and an example of why a foreign-born non-elected person is not put in charge of America's data.


Even on BLUESKY, people don't seem to realize what's gone down.  Here are two who do grasp it.




David Corn led on covering the outing of Valerie Plame.  Where's David now?

The American people don't want Musk to have their data.  His actions now demonstrate why he shouldn't.  They also call into question Chump's ability to do the job.


You don't get stories like this that queue themselves up so well.  

When you do get one, though, you need to make the most out of it.

Elected Democrats are doing nothing with this.  Even though it backs up everything that they've said about Chump and bout Musk, they're doing nothing with it.

At THIRD, Ava and I wrote "Media: Musk a purveyor preying on children" about how Musk is praised by conservatives -- as he serves up porn on Twitter.  The same porn that Musk-praiser Greg Abbott (governor of Texas) has gone out of his way to block on PORN HUB and other sites to 'save the children.'  But when it comes to billionaire Musk, those 'family balues' GOPers don't give a damn.  

They're okay with Musk putting porn out there.

I'm not a prude.  

But I do find it so interesting that Musk, who profits from the porn on Twitter, is behind haled by 'family values' types across the country.

It's the height of hypocrisy.

This is who Chump chose to go through the american people's date --  a porn king.

There are no standards in the Chump administration.


Last night, Rachel Maddow had an important segment on the rule of law and how Chump's destroying it. 



Last night, Rachel Maddow did more in one segment than elected Dems combined did all day Monday.


I don't hate Ron Wyden -- he's one of our country's best senators.  

But he can be better and this is the perfect example of that.

The party needs to be out front calling out Musk's exposure of under cover CIA agents.  They need to lead on this.  

Yet they're nowhere to be found.

Again, right now, the media is interested.  Right now, this is an issue that needs to be addressed.  But it's not being addressed. 


We'll wind don with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:


Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on the Trump administration taking action Sunday to permanently eliminate 1,600 USAID employees’ positions and put nearly every other agency employee on administrative leave—in flagrant violation of the law.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to unilaterally shutter USAID—with their latest announcement of permanent reductions in force for 1,600 positions—are a dangerous concession to our adversaries who will fill the void we leave behind. It is a slap in the face to the dedicated Americans who have honorably chosen to serve their country and help keep us all safe.

“Trump and Musk’s reckless actions are also illegal. USAID’s existence as an independent agency has long been enshrined in law and affirmed by bipartisan majorities year after year in annual appropriations. Our appropriations law also requires the administration to notify and consult with Congress before undertaking any efforts to reorganize, realign, or downsize USAID—as the sweeping reductions in force issued Sunday and all the other brazen actions we’ve seen clearly seek to do. These actions make waste and fraud more likely, will prevent even foreign assistance programs supported by the administration from being effectively implemented, and will illegally block hundreds of millions of dollars for other programs enacted into law by bipartisan majorities.

“Needless to say: the Trump administration has not consulted Congress on these changes—in flagrant violation of the law—and the reckless, indiscriminate gutting of the agency seriously weakens America’s credibility and our ability to advance our national security interests across the globe.”

Section 7063 of Division F of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-47) prohibits funds from the Act and prior Acts from being used to implement a reorganization without prior consultation with, and a detailed and justified notification to, the appropriate congressional committees. A reorganization, redesign, or other such plan is further defined in the Act and includes any activity to expand, eliminate, consolidate, or downsize covered departments or agencies, the United States official presence overseas, or the size of the permanent Civil Service, Foreign Service, eligible family member, and locally employed staff workforce from staffing levels previously justified to the Committee on Appropriations for fiscal year 2024.

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