If it's Thursday, this must be the Palermo Mansion in Staten Island
Only 1,423 days to go...
Living through these times…
How to Break Up with Your Phone, Revised Edition: The 30-Day Digital Detox Plan
Finding the humor…
You Have Reached the U.S. Government
If you are calling to request a pardon, press 517 to make a sizable donation to the Reëlect Trump Campaign. Do you think you might give a little more if we told you that the ambassadorships to Albania and Tonga are still available?
Thought for the day in honor of his birthday…
“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil.” ~John Steinbeck
Must Read Article…
Incompetence Leavened With Malignity
Before focusing on the malice, however, first note the utter incompetence of the Trump team….The Trump administration seems not to realize that the Russians are the ones in trouble, not us; that they are the ones with a faltering economy, a stalemated war, and more than three-quarters of a million casualties. Most important, the administration refuses to see Russia under President Vladimir Putin for what it is: a predatory dictatorship bent on rebuilding an empire on the bodies of its former subjects… The negotiators displayed mainly incompetence, as well as cringeworthy servility to their master in the White House. Trump’s part, though, was pure malignity. Shortly after the meeting ended, he criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, lied about the latter’s polling numbers, and said, in a particularly callous remark, that Ukraine had had a seat at the table for three years. How being invaded and having your civilians tortured, raped, and slaughtered counts as a seat at the table is beyond understanding.
Quote of the day:
“President Donald Trump’s top priority is extending his 2017 tax cuts for the next ten years, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates would add $4.6 trillion to the deficit. If he actually enacted the other tax cuts he promised on the campaign trail—including on tips, overtime, and Social Security payments—that deficit jumps closer to $11 trillion. During the campaign, he insisted that the tariffs he promised to levy would make foreign countries make up the money lost by the tax cuts. In addition to being wildly wishful thinking, Trump’s claim ignores the fact that tariffs are actually paid by U.S. consumers… So Trump and the Republicans have a math problem. It was always incorrect to say it was the Democrats who were irresponsibly running up the debt, but it was a powerful myth, and Republicans have relied on it for at least 25 years.”
~ Heather Cox Richardson
What I’m reading today…
Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE
The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them. The mass resignation of engineers, data scientists, designers and product managers is a temporary setback for Musk and the Republican president’s tech-driven purge of the federal workforce. It comes amid a flurry of court challenges that have sought to stall, stop or unwind their efforts to fire or coerce thousands of government workers out of jobs. USDS Resignation Letter
Senate Republicans Perfect the Art of Appeasement
Senator Thom Tillis told colleagues of “credible death threats” reported by the FBI when he was considering a vote against Pete Hegseth. The threats appeared to have their effect: Tillis voted yes and Hegseth was confirmed, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote…. This is not consistent with the American tradition, but it’s a pattern that history recognizes all too well. It is the advancement of an agenda through fear. It is the appeal to greed. It is the belief that might makes right.
Two Planes, in Washington and Chicago, Abort Landings to Avoid Collisions
Tuesday morning’s near misses continued a spotlight put on concerns raised about the safety of the nation’s airspace following last month’s deadly midair crash outside National Airport… Near misses and deadly plane crashes have beset the F.A.A. this year as it tries to navigate through an upheaval at the agency. About 400 employees were recently laid off as part of a restructuring of the federal government under President Trump. Musk has inside track to take over contract to fix air traffic communications system
Trump’s Incompetence Is Botching His Own Deregulation Spree
A saving grace of President Donald Trump and the other goons wreaking havoc across the government is that they aren’t especially smart. This bare fact may shine brightest in the Trump administration’s clumsy efforts to deregulate.
Latvia FM: Putin will try to achieve in peace talks what he couldn’t in Ukraine war — weaken the US
Braže notes that Russia, with a population of 140 million, has managed to gain control of less than 20% of Ukraine, population 40 million, since it seized Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Putin has failed to weaken the U.S. and the NATO military alliance it leads, or to oust the democratic government in Kyiv…But Putin hasn’t gotten what he wanted during the three-year war in Ukraine and “he will try to get it through the peace talks,” Braže said. “So, it’s important to clearly remember that perspective in whatever deal we negotiate or strike.”
Utah on Track to Become First State to Ban Fluoride in Water
The bill would take effect on May 7 if Cox signs it into law. RFK Jr. previously said the Trump administration would call on all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water, describing the mineral as “an industrial waste.” Dental experts largely disagree, stressing that data going back decades show fluoride is safe and effective in preventing tooth decay.
The US led the charge against global corruption. Now Trump is clearing the way for kleptocrats
Donald Trump decided that fighting corruption was getting in the way of making money. “FCPA enforcement … actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security,” the US president stated in an executive order instructing his Department of Justice to stop enforcing the law. This rapid strike was just one part of a blitzkrieg on US efforts against corruption that the White House has launched.
Trump to sell ‘gold card’ US visas for $5m to Russian oligarchs
Donald Trump plans to sell new “gold card” residency visas for a price of $5 million each (£4m) that even Russian oligarchs may be eligible to buy. Mr Trump unveiled the plan on Tuesday and said sales of the new visa, a high-price version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the national deficit. “We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card, this is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The President, who has made the deportation of millions of undocumented migrants a priority of his second term, said the card would be a new pathway to US citizenship.
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos says opinion pages will defend free market and ‘personal liberties’
Some of Trump’s top allies tweeted their support for Bezos’ move.
“Bravo, @JeffBezos!” posted fellow billionaire Elon Musk. Added conservative commentator Charlie Kirk: “Good! The culture is changing rapidly for the better.”
Bezos’ critics said it was evidence that he is moving the outlet toward Trump, his followers and the interests of billionaires.
“Bezos argues for personal liberties. But his news organization now will forbid views other than his own in its opinion section. There is no doubt in my mind that he is doing this out of fear of the consequences for his other business interests.” “This is what Oligarch ownership of the media looks like,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., “The second-richest guy in the world, Bezos, owns The Washington Post. He has now declared that the editorial page of that paper is going Trump right-wing. Surprise, Mr. Musk agrees. We must support independent media.”
Egg prices could jump another 41% this year, USDA says, as Trump’s bird flu plan unveiled
The USDA now predicts that egg prices will increase at least 41% this year on top of the already record prices. Just last month, the increase was predicted to be 20%. And the average prices conceal just how bad the situation is, with consumers paying more than a dollar an egg in some places.
Steve Bannon’s Nazi Salute. Elon Musk’s Chainsaw. Is This What Republicans Really Want?
Indeed, Musk and his boss, Donald Trump, are implementing a kind of government by meme: a reign of trolling and open grift that is at once profoundly unserious and gravely dangerous. The tech billionaire has been the driving force of this overhaul, as his Department of Government Oversight—or DOGE, itself a reference to the internet joke and memecoin—guts federal agencies and helps Trump consolidate power in his historically wealthy Cabinet. And while this political style is borne of the most giddily nihilistic corners of the internet, the real-world consequences of Musk’s blitz have already been profound—and yet to be fully realized.
