Outside the Beltway

Comments

1. Beth says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 07:06

   Just a couple of things I’ve come across that I thought were interesting/amusing:

   Some reddit stuff….

   Orderly_Liquidation
   •
   2d ago
   Ironically, though [Bessent] may be a voice of reason within the administration, he’s one the least competent communicators we’ve ever had as Treasury Secretary.

   shatterdaymorn
   •
   2d ago
   He communicates well to me. He blinks a lot when he lies. Watch it, sometimes its like a stroke. In poker its called a ‘tell’. The man is uncomfortably lying. This actually made me trust him a bit more. At least he can see this is really bad…. and be upset enough about it to lie.

   The other guys are economic cranks. Lutnick, Navarro, Miran are to economics what RFK Jr. is to family medicine. Please understand that!

   These guys are putting a needle into your investments and are about to inject economic bleach, Powell is saying no. That is where we are right now.

   Here’s another fun one:

   _Pewterschmidt_
   •
   3d ago
   Who stays the longest: hegseth or Bessent. Hegseth fired because he’s incompetent…Bessent because he’s competent…and he quits? How many Scaramucci’s are we at now?

   Wooden-Broccoli-7247
   •
   3d ago
   Hegseth stays the longest for sure. He’s proven he’s dumb enough for the position. Exactly why he was put there. He might be the safest man in Washington right now.

   Handsaretide
   •
   3d ago
   Bessent is there because he knows the markets. Hegseth is there because he’s willing to order troops to fire on US Citizens. A Mafia Don doesn’t just throw away a loyal goon like that. The next guy might be too worried about a military tribunal to put the order through.

   I’m also of the opinion that there is nothing that will get Hegseth fired cause Trump knows he’ll never get someone through. He might not care, but I doubt there is much Hegseth could do to actually get shitcanned.

   This is an interesting read…

   The terror shot:

   The EU is letting matters settle for a while before deciding how they will react to theses tariffs. Ireland really doesn’t want to see an escalating trade war, given it makes a shedload of US bits, bytes and pills that underpin the tax base.

   But there is a step the EU could take that would be a far more devastating response, without impacting trade at all.

   The US government funds itself by issuing bonds. Treasury Bonds are a kind of IOU. They promise to pay the bearer of the bond a certain amount of money after a set amount of time. They are the ultimate safe haven.

   Currently, $13 trillion is sitting in US Treasury bonds.

   Now, imagine there was an equivalent EU bond.

   Which system looks like the safer bet? Would you like to leave your money under the care of the European Central Bank? Or under Donald Trump’s Fed?

   8
2. charontwo says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 07:39

   ’Europe Is Already at War’ — A Guest Op-Ed by Joni Askola

   Geopolitical analyst Joni Askola shares his thread with the Bette community on a Europe already war and the immediate need to stop ignoring that reality

   Heidi Siegmund Cuda
   Apr 24

   “Bette”

   Europe is already at war. It’s high time we stop ignoring this reality!

   Most Europeans are divided between those who know how serious the situation is but prefer not to think about it too much, and those who don’t know what a war is. It’s time they learn, and high time we all admit to ourselves that we are at war with Russia.

   Some have been criticized in Europe for saying that we are at war, but they were right. There are many forms of war, and Russia is imposing several of them on Europe.

   Russia has been at war with Ukraine for 11 years, three of which have been full-scale. Ukraine is closer than most realize, and the escalation of the war there is a good example of what is to come if we don’t stop it from spreading.

   Russia is also waging a very successful hybrid war on other European countries through sabotage, cyberattacks, assassinations, economic warfare, intimidation, and disinformation campaigns. This war started long before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

   I’m increasingly convinced that our failure to help Ukraine sufficiently is mostly due to most Europeans not admitting to themselves that we are at war with Russia.

   snip

   Listen to what Putin, Medvedev, Surkov, and other Russian officials and propagandists say, and you will see that they consider themselves at war with us. They are acting on it, and we are not because we are cowards who prefer to outsource our defense.

   With Trump in power, he won’t defend us, and we need to take care of our own defense. Trump is also failing to mediate the end of the war and is likely about to give up on that, so the issue is more timely than ever before.

   Russian ambitions don’t stop in Ukraine, and Putin is preparing for the next wars. The war in Ukraine might last for a long time, but no matter how long it lasts, Russia won’t be able to demobilize because that would cause chaos and hurt the economy too much.

   5
3. Jen says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 07:40

   @Beth: I agree with your assessment of Hegseth.

   I cannot believe that dipsh!t set up an unsecured internet line *IN HIS PENTAGON OFFICE* that bypassed security protocols so that he could use Signal.

   I do not ever ever ever EVER want to hear about Hillary’s email server again. EVER.

   14
4. Scott says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 07:44

   I do the shopping in my house. Right now the cheapest meat is pork. At Costco, it is $2.49/lb for boneless pork shoulder (out of which I make breakfast sausage and pulled pork) and $2.29 for boneless pork loins (good for grilling, cutlets, etc.). It may be getting cheaper soon.

   China cancels 12,000 metric tons of US pork shipments

   China canceled 12,000 metric tons of United States pork shipments amid a high-stakes trade standoff between the superpowers, according to data released Thursday.

   China, one of the biggest U.S. trading partners, axed 12,000 metric tons of U.S. pork orders, the data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows.

   The move represents the biggest cancellation of pork orders since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains and stalled economies around the world, Bloomberg News reported.

   China, behind Mexico and Japan, was the U.S.’s third-biggest market for pork in 2024, importing some 475,000 metric tons valued at more than $1.1 billion.

   2
5. CSK says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 08:10

   @Beth: @Jen:

   And there’s this:

   http://www.thedailybeast.com/paranoid-hegseth-plasters-pentagon-with-photos-of-controversial-wife/

   1
6. Scott says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 08:33

   How weak can you get! This is the equivalent of promising not to hit your spouse if she would just do what you asked.

   Trump: Russia not taking over Ukraine is a concession

   President Trump said Thursday that Russia would be making a concession toward peace if it agrees not to take over Ukraine, as the U.S. president has struggled to negotiate even a limited ceasefire deal between Moscow and Kyiv.

   Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Norway’s prime minister, Trump was asked what concessions Russia has “offered up thus far to get to the point where you’re closer to peace.”

   “Stopping the war, stopping from taking the whole country, pretty big concession,” Trump responded.

   7
7. charontwo says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 09:25

   A comment to piece linked below:

   Not that intuitive sense should substitute for data analysis, but there is something profoundly satisfying in knowing that if you threaten somebody, they react. It seems, well, predictable. And according to this, countries act the same.

   https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/why-china-is-going-it-alone-on-technology

   Why China is going it alone on technology

   When the US does things to other countries, they might possibly respond!

   Henry Farrell
   Apr 16, 2025

   When Americans talk about the U.S.-China tech relationship these days, they tend to focus on China’s threat to America. And indeed, China is ruled by a notably nasty autocratic regime, with a long history of executions, human rights abuses and, most recently genocide. This leads to a lot of analysis that depicts China as a constant and enduring threat, using technology to ease its long term path to global domination, while America sleeps. But could it be that many of China’s actions on technology are not about its long term threat to America, but America’s immediate threat to it?

   That’s the motivating question of a brand new academic article that came out three days ago, which I was involved in. We – for values of we in which I am free-riding on colleagues – ask when countries are going to be willing to be technologically interdependent with other countries, and when they’ll prefer to go it alone. Interdependence means you can reap the benefit of other countries’ knowhow and products but that you risk them exploiting your dependence, while going it alone likely means worse tech, but also lower risk. Specifically, we want to know why China has become much more focused on technological independence as a goal. What we found was that China plausibly realized how vulnerable it was to one particular untrustworthy adversary: the United States of America.

   snip

   So did anything happen in late 2013? Yes indeed, as we discuss in the article. In late 2013, the Snowden revelations started getting published, telling everyone how deeply the NSA had penetrated foreign information systems, including China’s, in pursuit of juicy information. And in 2018, the Trump administration suddenly and unexpectedly threatened to destroy the Chinese telecommunications manufacturer ZTE, by cutting off access to the US produced technologies that it needed to build its products. After the U.S. saw how successful this was, it adopted similar measures against Huawei and other Chinese firms.

   There’s other evidence that points in the same direction. If, for example, you graph language calling for China to move to a “whole-of-nation system” in order to counteract chokepoints and the like, you again see a sudden shift from 2018 onwards.

   snip

   So what does this tell us about China? It highlights something that ought be obvious in American debate, but isn’t actually, for whatever reason. Chinese beliefs about the world and policies aren’t a constant. Just as Americans change their beliefs about China, sometimes because of how China behaves, Chinese officials change their beliefs about the U.S. We aren’t able to see what the timeline would have looked like, say, in a world where the U.S. had not gone after ZTE and Huawei. Perhaps it would have eventually converged, more or less, on something like the timeline of the world we are in. Perhaps it would have ended up somewhere wildly different, for better or for worse. But in the short term, and very possibly the longer term too, the revelation of American actions and intentions plausibly made China much more willing to go it alone.

   The implications for how we should think about U.S. tariff policy, and its consequences for Chinese thinking, are left as an exercise for the reader

   This reader’s thinking is that in the current engagement, both sides think they have the upper hand (only one can be right) and see the end game as improving on the previous status quo. Only one side can/will succeed. My guess is the side that succeeds is the one that has better understanding of objective reality.

   3
8. DK says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 09:50

   Donald Trump Reacts to the Cost of Eggs in the U.S., Says ‘If Anything, the Prices Are Getting Too Low’ (People)

   Trump said she is doing “a great job,” before he claimed that egg prices “are down 87%, but nobody talks about that.”

   “You can have all the eggs you want. We have too many eggs. In fact, if anything, the prices are getting too low. So I just want to let you know that the prices are down,” the politician continued.

   …Lowering the costs of groceries and other goods was one of Trump’s biggest 2024 campaign promises. He vowed at the time that he would “immediately bring prices down, starting on day one,” if he was elected.

   But, after Trump was sworn in and the economy continued to struggle, the White House seemingly acknowledged that the president has limited control over some sources of inflation — the last spike of which was due to factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

   Where’s all the scolding think pieces and breathless commentary on how Trump and Republicans are out-of-touch on Trumpflation, dismissively ignoring Americans’ economic concerns?

   9
9. Jen says:
   Friday, 25 April 2025 at 09:51

   @CSK: That doesn’t surprise me at all. The dude who is hell-bent on removing any trace of women or Black military members is almost certainly relying on his wife to explain what is going on to him. A weekend anchor for FOX isn’t going to be the brightest bulb on the tree.

   ETA: This sentence structure at the end of the Daily Beast article had me giggling. It sounds like Hegseth is the one who had the baby:

   “He later got her pregnant, had a baby, and then married her. “

   3
10. DK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:15

    Young Men Are Already Souring on Trump (New York Magazine)

    …there’s been a flurry of media coverage trying to explore the underpinnings of young men’s support for a 78-year-old convicted felon who was found liable for sexual abuse. While many of these stories hand-wring that young men may be forever lost to MAGA-world, less than 100 days into Trump’s second term, it appears some of them are already experiencing buyer’s remorse.

    A new national youth poll released this week by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School found that 59 percent of men between the ages of 18 and 29 disapprove of Trump. Additionally, 47 percent of them say that he’ll hurt the economy, and 40 percent say they are worse off under the current administration compared to the Biden era. Young men had a different take on the president as recently as January. At the time, 62 percent of men under 30 approved of how Trump handled the economy, according to polling by the youth-research firm SocialSphere. But by early March, even before tariff chaos and the economic tailspin that followed, that number had already dropped 14 points, to 48 percent, Puck reported.

    Mugged by reality, again.

    6
11. charontwo says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:18

    @DK:

    Trump’s brain is A) abnormal and B) malfunctioning.

    There is a post at LGM making the point he is super stupid, but I think beyond stupidity he is totally delusional and malfunctioning.

    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/04/there-will-be-growth-in-the-spring
12. Charley in Cleveland says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:20

    @Jen: Read recently that Pentagon staffers refer to Whiskey Pete’s wife as Yoko.

    4
13. Scott F. says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:31

    @charontwo:
    Trump – from the Time interview quoted at LGM:

    We’re a department store, a giant department store, the biggest department store in history. Everybody wants to come in and take from us. They’re going to come in and they’re going to pay a price for taking our treasure, for taking our jobs, for doing all of these things. But what I’m doing with the tariffs is people are coming in, and they’re building at levels you’ve never seen before. We have $7 trillion of new plants, factories and other things, investment coming into the United States. And if you look back at past presidents, nobody was anywhere near that. And this is in three months.

    Ever wonder how someone could go bankrupt running a casino? There’s your answer right there.

    8
14. Michael Reynolds says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:36

    @charontwo:
    One of my earliest characterizations of Trump was as a rare ‘stupid psychopath.’ Rare in the sense that in movies the psychopath is invariable super smart. I saw (and see) Trump as a great white shark: excellent predatory instincts, tiny little brain.

    Does he have dementia? I don’t know. Ignorance, overconfidence and laziness may explain some of his apparent decline. Maybe he’s just stopped trying. I never thought he was at all sharp, so for me this looks like it could be a D student finally realizing he doesn’t even need to make the effort to get a D and taking the easy F. Cults are very, very generous graders when it comes to the cult leader.

    7
15. Rick DeMent says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:47

    @Scott: What a complete tool.

    2
16. Scott says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:50

    @Jen: And is she sitting in on meetings? Does she have a clearance? Or is that just another violation of basic rules.

    2
17. Scott says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:54

    @DK: On our local neighborhood Next Door page, someone was complaining about the price of bananas (up about 10cts/lb.). Somehow, no one made the connection to the 10% reciprocal tariff on bananas from Honduras. Still waiting for the return of banana plantations to the US.

    7
18. Kathy says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 10:59

    It never ceases to amaze me. I come to the office about 45 minutes late because I had something to do elsewhere, and I’m still the first one in at our department.

    2
19. Modulo Myself says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:03

    After a few months it seems clear that ICE does not have the intelligence/wherewithal to go after actual employers of undocumented immigrants and migrants. All they know how to do is listen to crazy Zionists and cop morons who scroll through the criminal justice system looking for ‘gang’ activity.

    Basically, they’re trolling for scraps. Trump and his people do not have the intention or the abilities to change why the undesirables are here, i.e. legit jobs. All they can do is chase clout in right-wing media, but they have to go more extreme as it draws on. Today, it’s look like they’re targeting a judge for ‘obstruction’, which is probably a mindless act of normal decency. I doubt they are going to stop there.

    3
20. Slugger says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:04

    Human beings are one of the few critters that have a life span of more than 50 years. Consequently, studies of the impact of diet, exercise, etc, take a long time. One such study is the Women’s Health Initiative which started in 1991 and enrolled 160,000 subjects. This has yielded important information about heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. Yesterday, it was announced that the government would stop funding this effort. This morning there are reports that the rejection has been rejected. It’s not clear to me if the WHI is funded or not.
    It is going to be very difficult keep this study going if the funding is insecure. No project is going to be successful, whether studying osteoporosis, effects of air pollution, or habitation of Mars, if stable funding can’t be secured. Government at the whim of some official will not succeed. RFK Jr wants to study autism; I think that highly qualified people would be reluctant to get involved in something that may well be canceled in a few months since slow and steady has been replaced by move fast and break things as the mantra of our government.

    4
21. Scott says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:07

    FBI arrests judge in escalation of Trump immigration enforcement effort

    ederal agents on Friday arrested a judge in Wisconsin on obstruction charges after she allegedly helped an undocumented immigrant evade arrest, FBI Director Kash Patel announced.

    Patel wrote on X that the FBI believes Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan “intentionally misdirected federal agents away” from Eduardo Flores Ruiz as agents were attempting to arrest him at her courthouse last week.

    5
22. Scott says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:15

    Wall Street bull slashes outlook for S&P 500, citing Trump tariff impacts

    Nice visual graphic on Wall Street’s change in S&P 500 predictions from Dec to April.

    Spoiler alert! Down.

    1
23. Daryl says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:16

    @Slugger:
    I doubt any serious scientists will even be approached about little Bobbie’s “research” project. He has clearly already determined the outcome. And putting a 6 month deadline on it only proves it’s lack of seriousness.

    2
24. Fortune says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:23

    @Scott F.: Atlantis, Bally’s, Golden Nugget, Harrah’s, Sands, and Showboat also failed at casinos in Atlantic City. Criticize Trump for the things he did wrong, there are plenty of them. The casino line makes leftists look foolish.

    1
25. Rob1 says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:32

    FBI director [Cash Patel] says a judge accused of helping someone evade immigration agents has been arrested

    https://apnews.com/article/immigration-judge-arrested-7997186bbca5730e70a25f2347e631f6

    First they came for government office staff, then they came for women military leaders, then they came for Social Security, then they came for opposition fundraising, then they came for public health safety, then they came for public education, then they came for the universities, then they came for judges, etc., etc., etc., etc.

    Are we ready for the “f-word” yet? —- fascist? No? What’s your threshhold?

    3
26. CSK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:37

    According to NBC, “Coach” Tuberville is telling senators that he plans to run for governor of Alabama.

    1
27. Daryl says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:39

    @Fortune:
    Trump bankrupted FOUR casinos in Atlantic City, all by himself.
    I wouldn’t vote for any of the other Casino owners, either.
    Your fawning sycophancy is weak and pathetic.

    21
28. Daryl says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:44

    @Scott:
    China made Trump look like a fool when he folded on the tariffs.
    Putin just made him look weak.
    It’s been a tough few days for the doughboy.

    7
29. Jay L Gischer says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:51

    While I was reading a piece at LGM, I was reminded of what I think is the best way of understanding Trump.

    He is most interested in looking good. He doesn’t care if something works or not. It doesn’t matter to him. What matters is that he looks good in the moment. He can go on camera and look tough, or he can have dinner with Bill Maher and seem witty and engaged and even interested. But there’s nothing behind it more than Trump’s desire to look good in the moment.

    Which is why he does stuff that to those of us trained to think about the long term, and employ systems thinking, he seems really dumb. If stupid is as stupid does, then he is dumb, but I don’t think “dumb” is the best explanation of Trump. It’s that he wants to look good in the moment. He’s pretty good at it too. It got him elected President more than once. And it got him a successful TV show, too.

    What this makes less clear is whether he is a sociopath, or just plays one on TV, because it makes him look good. For whatever reason, lots of business leaders want people to think they are sociopaths. I think they think it gives them better bargaining positions.

    So I don’t know that I have the data to decide that. Though again, sociopath is as sociopath does. He acts like one. So maybe he is one. However, I don’t think this critique carries much weight politically. Because people like the “tough guy” if they think he’s on their side.

    4
30. CSK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 11:53

    @Daryl:

    It took Trump just a year to kill the Eastern Airlines shuttle when he took it over in 1988. It had been running very successfully since 1961.

    10
31. Gromitt Gunn says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:00

    A little context on the current state and recent history of casinos in Atlantic City.

    2
32. Joe says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:10

    @Scott and Rob1: While it matters what this judge actually did, something has to get the alarm bells going for people. Perhaps this will be it.

    1
33. Mister Bluster says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:12

    George Santos gets 87 months. (7 years, 3 months if my arithmetic is correct)
34. al Ameda says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:14

    @Fortune:

    Criticize Trump for the things he did wrong, there are plenty of them. The casino line makes leftists look foolish.

    Yeah, no.

    He’s promoted himself as ‘The Art of The Deal guy,” a great businessman, ad nauseum. The fact that his resume includes 2 casino bankruptcies that practically writes the AI-oppo-copy that Democrats, and every other sane political operative, would regularly use.

    By the way, should we even bother to mention that many of the so-called tariff rip-offs that he calls out, are the result of (‘The Art of the …) deals he negotiated during his first term?

    9
35. Michael Reynolds says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:40

    @Fortune:
    Actually there were I believe, two Trump casinos that went under, but that’s from memory and @Daryl: may be right that it was four. One, the Taj IIRC, also copped a plea to allowing money laundering and paid a hefty fine.

    One is left to wonder why Trump bought into Atlantic City which was, evidently, doomed? One reason of course is that he can’t buy into a Vegas casino because he can’t pass the background checks. That’s why all he has here is half of a particularly ugly hotel.

    Of the nine major AC casinos, two are currently managed by MGM, Caesar’s manages three. Hard Rock, Harrah’s and the ever pathetic Bally’s each have one. It was Hard Rock that took over Trump’s dump. They seem to be doing fine, although with Trump killing international tourism, jacking up the costs of building materials with his idiotic tariffs and also jacking up the costs of borrowing because the entire world knows he’s a fucking moron, I’m not sure how they’ll do going forward. Hard Rock is building a massive new place, hopefully they have their financing in place and bought all the steel they’ll need.

    So one conclusion we can safely reach is that Caesar’s, MGM and Hard Rock are all better at running casinos than Trump is. Much like every charity is more honest than Trumps’ charity, and every tie maker makes better product than Trump’s bankrupt tie company, etc… etc…

    7
36. Rob1 says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:40

    Update:

    FBI Director Kash Patel has now deleted this tweet, announcing the arrest of a WI state judge for “intentionally” blocking a deportation arrest

    https://x.com/TocRadio/status/1915780394265256419

    2
37. Rob1 says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:44

    @CSK:

    It took Trump just a year to kill the Eastern Airlines shuttle when he took it over in 1988. It had been running very successfully since 1961.

    Well then, it appears Trump is on track and on schedule for a repeat performance with the entire
    U.S. of A.

    Talk about stepping up one’s game. The man is ambitious; you have to give him that.

    4
38. Jen says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:45

    @Fortune: Trump’s problem with casinos is that he opened new ones in close proximity to his existing casinos, thereby putting his own properties in competition with one another. His casinos lost more money than others, and more employees.

    He is a bad businessman, and it is 100% accurate to note he failed at casinos.

    11
39. charontwo says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:46

    @Daryl:

    China made Trump look like a fool when he folded on the tariffs.

    So far it’s just Trump and Bessent talking about folding re China, maybe he has sort of folded elsewhere. (Just trying to talk up the financial markets).

    I expect China to wait him out until he folds for real.

    1
40. Rob1 says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:48

    @Fortune:

    The casino line makes leftists look foolish.

    Defending Trump makes you look foolish. And treasonous.

    8
41. CSK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:50

    @al Ameda:

    Failed Trump businesses:
    Trump Mortgage
    Trump Steaks
    Trump Magazine
    GoTrump.com
    Trump the Game
    Trump Vodka
    Trump Plaza Hotel
    Trump University
    Trump Entertainment Resorts
    Trump Shuttle Airlines

    You really have to be an astute businessman to lose money peddling booze and promoting gambling.

    12
42. Jay L Gischer says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:57

    From AP:

    Dugan was taken into custody by the FBI on Friday morning on the courthouse grounds, according to U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson Brady McCarron. She appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later Friday before being released from custody. Her next court appearance is May 15.

    2
43. becca says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 12:58

    @Rob1: on the day when polls show $trump now underwater on his last remaining positive rating on immigration, Kash throws him an anchor.
    Drip, drip, drip.

    1
44. Mister Bluster says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:00

    Only 1,361 Days To Go
    The Economist

    2
45. stormy.t.dragon@gmail.com says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:02

    @Michael Reynolds:

    Caesar’s manages three. Hard Rock, Harrah’s and the ever pathetic Bally’s each have one.

    Caesar’s and Harrah’s are the same company wearing different hats (they owned Bally’s at one point too)

    1
46. becca says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:03

    @CSK: I don’t know if it failed, but Trump men’s cologne gathered dust on the shelves at Macy’s a decade ago. Rank stuff.

    2
47. Scott says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:22

    DOD Senior Advisor Announcements

    Pentagon Acting Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson provided the following statement:

    Regular workforce adjustments are a feature of any highly efficient organization. Secretary Hegseth will continue to be proactive with personnel decisions and will work hard to ensure the Department of Defense has the right people in the right positions to execute President Trump’s agenda.

    Today, we are announcing the following positions at the Pentagon:

    Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor
    Justin Fulcher, Senior Advisor
    Patrick Weaver, Senior Advisor
    Ricky Buria, Senior Advisor

    Who are these guys?

    DOD defends staff churn amid dismemberment of Hegseth’s inner circle

    Fulcher, a former tech entrepreneur, was initially part of the “Department of Government Efficiency Team” led by billionaire Trump administration adviser Elon Musk. Weaver was first brought to the Pentagon to be Hegseth’s “special assistant.” Buria was previously Hegseth’s junior military assistant and formerly the “body man” for former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

    The beat goes on.
48. Gustopher says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:25

    Enjoy a silly song about a McDonald’s in the Pentagon.

    https://youtu.be/LhzJ0i1jZ08
49. Daryl says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:29

    @Michael Reynolds:

    “Trump’s Taj Mahal opened in April 1990 in Atlantic City, but six months later, “defaulted on interest payments to bondholders as his finances went into a tailspin,” The Washington Post’s Robert O’Harrow found. In July 1991, Trump’s Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy. He could not keep up with debts on two other Atlantic City casinos, and those two properties declared bankruptcy in 1992. A fourth property, the Plaza Hotel in New York, declared bankruptcy in 1992 after amassing debt.
    PolitiFact uncovered two more bankruptcies filed after 1992, totaling six. Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts filed for bankruptcy again in 2004, after accruing about $1.8 billion in debt. Trump Entertainment Resorts also declared bankruptcy in 2009, after being hit hard during the 2008 recession.
    Why the discrepancy? Perhaps this will give us an idea: Trump told Washington Post reporters that he counted the first three bankruptcies as just one.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016/live-updates/general-election/real-time-fact-checking-and-analysis-of-the-first-presidential-debate/fact-check-has-trump-declared-bankruptcy-four-or-six-times/

    1
50. Michael Reynolds says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:32

    @st*************@***il.com:
    I did not know that. I am actually looking forward to the new Hard Rock. It looks interesting.

    In Vegas MGM and Caesar’s are the Jets and the Sharks. They occasionally have singing and dancing knife fights down on Fremont.

    1
51. gVOR10 says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:38

    @becca: Last night Maddow went down a list of Trump
    Polling results, almost all of which had him underwater. She mentioned FOX’s polling operation is sort of honest, and showed the same results.

    This morning in the gym I glanced up at a TV and saw FOX had a list on screen ranked with the best for Trump at the top. He was below water on all but the top item , border enforcement. The headline was, of course, ‘Trump border policy popular’.

    2
52. Neil Hudelson says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:42

    @Matt Bernius/Steven Taylor/JJ:

    Bug alert: it appears Michael’s reply to Stormy Dragon’s comment resulted in stormy’s email address being published, albeit with anti-spam blur.

    1
53. Jay L Gischer says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:51

    @Neil Hudelson: What happened appears to be that Stormy used her email instead of a handle for a post. This was not caught by anti-spam, which doesn’t check handles, just bodies of messages. Then it noticed when Michael replied to Stormy.

    2
54. Kathy says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 13:53

    @CSK:

    Don’t forget the trump pandemic.

    1
55. charontwo says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:07

    DOJ in disarray and getting feisty with SDNY. IOW, malicious clownshow.

    “Jay Kuo”

    The SDNY Shit Show

    You really can’t make this up.

    Legal antics.

    1
56. Scott F. says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:12

    @Rob1:

    The casino line makes leftists look foolish.
    ***
    Defending Trump makes you look foolish. And treasonous.

    The troll doesn’t defend Trump. That’s their schtick. “Trump has done other bad things (which will never be enumerated or explained), but his opponents whine about all the wrong things and in all the wrong ways. Blah, blah, blah…”

    They hope others won’t notice that they didn’t even try to sanewash the incoherent blathering I quoted directly from Trump’s interview to Time. They don’t want you to think about how their ilk voted into the presidency a business genius who thinks a national economy is like a massive department store where under past management people could come in and take things without paying for them. Or something. I can’t make any sense of the analogy myself.

    5
57. Just nutha ignint cracker says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:13

    @charontwo: This is a good observation. Europe is basically in a similar cold war confrontation with Russia as Europe and the US were with the Soviet Union. This time the US in portraying that it is an “interested” bystander, but that stance will change according to Trump’s whims/geopolitical needs/opportunities for graft/insecurities.

    3
58. Mikey says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:16

    @charontwo: From the piece:

    It’s rather odd that the SDNY has to emphasize that this was a “completely honest error” and “was not intentional in any way.” There’s only one reason to underscore this: Others seriously believe that the “mistake” was actually on purpose.

    That was actually the first thing I thought when I read about this. Not all heroes wear capes.
59. wr says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:22

    @Fortune: The casino line makes leftists look foolish.”

    Fortune is right! And what’s more, other airlines have failed, so lay off the Trump Shuttle! Other online universities have been successfully sued for fraud, so lay off Trump University! Other alcohol brands have failed miserably, so lay off Trump Vodka! Other women have been sexually assaulted in department stores, so lay off his felony convictions!

    In short, other companies and people have done things, so Trump can’t be held liable for anything! To say otherwise is to make leftists look foolish!

    15
60. Just nutha ignint cracker says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:23

    @CSK: In a Democratic administration, a SECDEF’s former news producer wife being around constantly would have caused category 9-level tremors at the foundations of the Pentagon and Congress.

    On the other hand, a Democratic administration SECDEF’s former news producer wife would be seen as a potential enemy of the state by the GQP, so I guess this all makes sense.

    2
61. Neil Hudelson says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:28

    @Jay L Gischer:

    Ope! You are right, I didn’t look closely at stormy’s handle on that comment.
62. wr says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:29

    @Neil Hudelson: “Bug alert: it appears Michael’s reply to Stormy Dragon’s comment resulted in stormy’s email address being published, albeit with anti-spam blur.”

    Actually, Stormy’s email address was on one of his posts. I was going to post here to ask him if this was intentional in case he wanted to adjust it…

    On the other hand, I’m thinking “Stormy T. Dragon@…” might not be his primary email…

    ETA — Sorry if I misgendered you, StormyD. I don’t know what you prefer, but once I do I’ll make sure to use that should I ever refer to you in the third person again!

    2
63. Rob1 says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:53

    @CSK:

    You really have to be an astute businessman to lose money peddling booze and promoting gambling.

    Also, Trump the failed human being. Miserably failed.

    4
64. CSK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:54

    Trump told Time magazine that he was only joking when he said he’d end the Ukraine-Russia war in 24 hours.

    1
65. Rob1 says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 15:01

    @charontwo:

    Europe is already at war. It’s high time we stop ignoring this reality!

    Yes. And the U.S. has been blind to the fact that we have been engaged in an “asymmetrical war” with Putin’s Russia for quite awhile now. And it looks like he’s gaining the upper hand.

    5
66. CSK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 15:35

    @Scott F.:

    “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had.”
    — Prof. William T. Kelley, Wharton School of Business and Finance

    7
67. Stormy Dragon says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 15:42

    @wr:

    I typed my email into the wrong line by mistake and would indeed appreciate having it excised

    I prefer they/them pronouns, thanks for asking

    6
68. Stormy Dragon says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 15:46

    When your presidency is so bad even Randall Munroe is becoming radicalized: https://xkcd.com/3081

    3
69. Jay L Gischer says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 15:48

    @Stormy Dragon: I tried to recall your preferred pronoun, but it was a miss. My apologies.

    2
70. Jen says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 16:01

    @CSK: What an odd joke.

    Narrator’s voice: It was not, in fact, a joke.

    2
71. CSK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 16:20

    @Jen: He told Time that obviously no one would take him literally.

    1
72. Beth says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 16:22

    @Michael Reynolds:

    I did not know that. I am actually looking forward to the new Hard Rock. It looks interesting.

    Oh look, another thing to be antagonistic about. I don’t know what it is about Hard Rock that makes me dislike so much. Like, I like tacky & weird. But I guess I’m a tacky & weird snob. Hard Rock is low class tacky.

    Hard Rock the brand is like exurban St. Paul, MN trying to act like Manhattan*.

    Like Vegas is all tacky and gross and weird and desperate, and then there’s Hard Rock in a polo shirt and wrap around Rayban’s. Grinning soberly as the sunburn begins to creep in at 6am.

    The gross shiny flashing loud fake Vegas looks up and sees Billy, the assistant manager at the local Sno-Cat thinking he’s seen some shit and it’s just McCarren, and weeps. That’s Hard Rock.

    Hard Rock is a knock off third shift Guy Fieri impersonator at a Chicago strip club**.

    *I initially thought Brooklyn would be a better fit, but then I realized that Brooklyn isn’t white enough for those people.

    **the absolute worst strip clubs anywhere in the world are in/around Chicago. Grim, boring, and soulless to an extent you’d rather being getting yelled at by your mom and a random priest. Chicago is so amazing at so many things. We have so many beautiful, sexy, intense people. Such art and beauty. And our strip clubs suck terribly.

    Strip clubs in Gary, IN are better. That’s how bad Chicago strip clubs are.

    2
73. Beth says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 16:31

    @Jay L Gischer:

    Nice way to intimidate the Federal Judges they are too afraid to do this to. How blatant and gross. I wonder how many different state courthouses they’ve been doing this in just to set this up.

    5
74. Daryl says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 16:53

    @wr:
    This conversation is best summed up by this; the only successful business Trump has ever had is selling red hats to morons.

    9
75. Fortune says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 16:58

    @Beth: Intimidated from doing what? No one’s said she was exercising her legal authority, right? If a judge violates the law, arrest her.

    1
76. Kathy says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 17:02

    The judge should argue she was preserving the person’s right to due process, against them being shipped off to a gulag.

    3
77. RWB says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 17:09

    Has anyone heard anything about Trump giving George Santos a full pardon and hiring him to lead his crypto operation?
78. Beth says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 17:15

    @RWB:

    That would be *chef’s kiss*

    1
79. Joe says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 17:16

    @Jay L Gischer: And again, not a miss.
80. Gustopher says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 17:52

    Anti-anti-Trumpers are tiresome.

    3
81. DK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 18:28

    @Beth:

    Nice way to intimidate the Federal Judges they are too afraid to do this to.

    The MAGA regime is to far down the fascist rabbit hole to stop digging. Americans are not fans of Epstein-bestie rapist and criminal Trump’s heavy-handed immigration overreach.

    Polling poorly: Trump’s immigration abuses are tanking his popular approval (New York Daily News)

    …Donald Trump has always benefited politically by attacking immigrants, winning support for his promises of a hardline border crackdown. Yet now that’s he’s actually doing it — and in such a cruel fashion — the president is, for the first time, getting poor marks from voters, with a YouGov poll finding that 50% of Americans disapprove of his handling of what has often been his most popular issue.

    The administration’s focus on smearing Maryland man Kilmar Abrego García, whom it illegally sent to a Salvadoran mega-prison without due process, has backfired, with American adults saying 50-28 that he should be brought back.

    Trump receives dismal ratings in NYT poll (The Hill)

    President Trump received lagging approval ratings across the board in the latest poll from The New York Times/Siena College, another indicator of the president facing declining public trust almost 100 days into his second term.
    Trump’s approval rating in the poll sits at just 29 percent with independents, who indicated they’re showing stiff resistance to many of his policies, siding more with Democrats in opposition than Republicans who still overwhelmingly back his administration.

    Meanwhile, fewer than a third of independents said Trump understands the problems of people like them, and more than 60 percent view Trump as exceeding the powers granted to him.

    …Trump has a net negative approval rating on a wide range of issues pollsters asked respondents about, including immigration and the economy—the two issues that had consistently been seen as his strengths since the start of his first term.

    Hence why Democratic electeds and hopefuls should stake out consistent positions based on their authentic, truthful views about what’s right — rooted in basic decency, common sense, and our constitutional values.

    Rather than peddling consultant-class mush that chases ever-shifting vibes and polls and pretends “the working class” is a saintly and virtuous monolith.

    4
82. DK says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 18:35

    @Gustopher:

    Anti-anti-Trumpers are tiresome.

    Because as you know already, they’re rarely actually anti-Trump. Scratching the surface will usually expose a garden variety, standard issue MAGA simp. Just one in denial, or too cowardly to own up to it, or (rightly) embarrassed by their latent admiration for Trump’s moral depravity and ethical terpitude.

    The phony Greenwald/Taibbi “I don’t support Trump, but…” routine is often just smoke and mirrors to protect ego strength or social standing.

    4
83. Barry says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 18:52

    @becca: “on the day when polls show $trump now underwater on his last remaining positive rating on immigration, Kash throws him an anchor.
    Drip, drip, drip.”

    I had not thought of that.

    2
84. JohnSF says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 19:01

    @charontwo:

    “Europe is at war”

    And it may turn out the US is neutral in this.
    Or even hostile, due to Trump’s petulance, the inchoate resentments of MAGA, and the rather sinister agendas of the alt-right.

    2
85. JohnSF says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 19:12

    Speaking of war, the situation re India and Pakistan is looking a bit tense.

    I wonder how much effort the US Administration is putting in trying to get this off the boil?
    Because it’s potentially VERY dangerous indeed.

    2
86. Steven L. Taylor says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 19:35

    @Fortune: @Fortune: good thing you aren’t a Trump supporter, as I cannot imagine what the fawning would look like given how much you do as someone who, you know, isn’t a supporter.

    4
87. JohnSF says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 19:38

    Incidentally, re Ukraine: I suspect the Ukrainian killing of General Moskalik was a message; that Ukraine is in no mood to capitulate, despite whatever Trump may desire.

    And even Starmer, who has been trying to conciliate Trump, is indicating that the US is going way beyond what is acceptable.
    As are other European leaders.

    Incidentally, Boris Johnson has just pitched in in a similar vein; this looks like a message to Badenoch that trying to ignore this issue won’t work for the Conservatives.

    2
88. Michael Reynolds says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 20:00

    @Beth:
    Oh, I wasn’t going to be hanging out there. The artists’s renderings do look cool, though some of the locals are bemoaning the Mirage. If I’m in a casino it’s most likely the Fontainebleau, which, as I believe I’d bitched before, must be pronounced Fountain Blue. It’s as clinical as a Kubrick movie. Or out at Red Rock – convenient to dentists and doctors – which is an excellent locals casino where you can park for free, as opposed to say, the $50 before tip at a Strip valet.

    I’ve only been to a couple strip clubs. At our lowest ebb on Orlando, K went to strip club to apply as a waitress. The manager mistook her for one of his girls. She could easily have risen (?) to stripper. Which would really have worked for the autobiography. The fugitive sociopath and the OCD stripper chick who later become kids book authors? We could sell the rights to that. But no, she had to go get a regular waitress job pushing crepes in Winter Garden. I’d go give her shit about that but she’s off on book tour tomorrow, first stop: West Virginia. Pity the girl.

    1
89. wr says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 20:21

    @Michael Reynolds: “you can park for free, as opposed to say, the $50 before tip at a Strip valet.”

    That just astonishes and depresses me. Back in the ancient days when I would go to Vegas a couple times a year — back when the Mirage was the brand-new height of luxury — parking was always free at all of the casinos… because they wanted everyone to come in and throw their money away.

    That was back when you could get cheap deals on rooms in even high-end hotels, and when shows and meals weren’t New York levels or higher. Then they discovered that there is apparently no upper bound to what people are willing to pay just to be there…

    I did have dinner at The Palm in Caesar’s with Kenny Feld, owner of Barnum and Bailey’s and producer of Siegfried and Roy’s show and Bernie something, their manager. (We were being courted to write a S&R TV special…) I left that dinner understanding intuitively that no matter how sleazy any other branch of the entertainment industry is — even the music side — there is nothing worse than Vegas business…

    1
90. JohnSF says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 20:29

    @Fortune:
    Who has determined that this judge violated the law?

    2
91. Fortune says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 21:15

    @Steven L. Taylor: It’s great, I can say Trump should follow the law and judges should follow the law, and I can sleep at night because I haven’t sold my soul.
92. JohnSF says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 21:32

    @Fortune:

    I haven’t sold my soul.

    Indeed; you’re just giving it away, for no return.

    12
93. just nutha says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 21:41

    @JohnSF: As much as a hate siding with Fortune, given that the arrest subject in question is accused or suspected of being an illegal immigrant and a judge is an officer of the court, sadly, it’s reasonable to place her under arrest for obstruction of justice. I’d prefer that the FBI serve a warrant but don’t expect Trump’s administration to confirm to my preferences.

    3
94. JohnSF says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 21:51

    @just nutha:
    Well, arrest for obstruction would be reasonable, given sworn grounds.
    But surely there must be some proceedings? I have enormous difficulty imagining the British police arresting a magistrate for obstruction on their own initiative, without either a court order, or an instruction from a Public Prosecutions solicitor.

    4
95. just nutha says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 23:26

    @JohnSF: I can’t speak for the UK, but in the US proceedings do not always precede arrests. I’ll agree that the agents overstepped, and I don’t know the specific procedures, but “respect for the rule of law” presupposes that judges are not entitled to treatment different than that which would be given to some ignint cracker.

    2
96. Michael J Reynolds says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 23:29

    @wr:
    $40 plus tip most weekdays, $50 on the weekends. And the $27 cocktail is upon us. I’m hearing more concern that Vegas is pricing out working people. I expect the local economy will get hit by a fall-off in international tourism. And I wonder about construction here because that’s the number 2 business. Building shit and screwing suckers. Stercora aedificans et stultos necans. It’s the city motto.
97. Steven L. Taylor says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 23:29

    @just nutha: I am certainly willing to wait and see what the charges are, but I am not especially willing to give the Trump/Patel FBI the benefit of the doubt, either.

    1
98. Steven L. Taylor says:
    Friday, 25 April 2025 at 23:30

    @Fortune: You keep telling yourself that.

    1
99. Jax says:
    Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 00:41

    @Fortune: People would probably respect you a lot more if you’d just announce you love Trump, and quit doing that “swerve” you do where you’re like “I didn’t vote for him, soooooo…..”

    Did you vote for Kamala Harris, Fortune?

    3
100. JohnSF says:
     Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 00:45

     @just nutha:

     “respect for the rule of law” presupposes that judges are not entitled to treatment different than that which would be given to some ignint cracker.

     Ah, that’s where English law differs (Scottish? dunno, lol)
     Magistrates and judges are appointed of the Crown; therefore mess with them at your (extreme) peril.
     The US system of judges elected, and appointed by states, is rather alien to us Brits.

     1
101. just nutha says:
     Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 03:43

     @Steven L. Taylor: So in your model of “rule of law,” the judge decides whether the government can arrest? Understand, I’m okay with “rule of law” == “my preferred outcome.” I’ve been saying that’s what most of us mean for several years now.

     I may also disagree with how you are defining “give Trump/Patel FBI the benefit of the doubt,” but I’m unsure of what you intend. While I’m confident that allowing the suspect to escape arrest probably saved him a trip to El Salvador, that’s not a decision I can make as an officer of the court. I may have the right to arrest him in with and refuse to release him until an actual deportation order is issued or a higher court orders him released to whoever, but that may be the limit of my ability under the rule of law.

     1
102. just nutha says:
     Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 03:50

     @JohnSF: I’ll grant that we’re in uncharted territory where “there be dragons here.” But I’m willing to bet that when the UK version of the FBI comes to court to make an arrest the judge doesn’t say ESAD,MF, either. But that’s only a guess.
103. Stormy Dragon says:
     Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 05:30

     @just nutha:

     So in your model of “rule of law,” the judge decides whether the government can arrest?

     Yes. That’s why arrest warrants are a thing.
104. Rob1 says:
     Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 09:41

     @Fortune:

     I haven’t sold my soul.

     I’m still looking for evidence of one in your hollow words.
105. wr says:
     Saturday, 26 April 2025 at 12:23

     @Michael J Reynolds: “And the $27 cocktail is upon us”

     That’s insane. Even in Manhattan I don’t think I’ve ever seen one higher than 25 — and that’s for super fancy custom drinks in super fancy places.