Everyday I gets pissed off. It is almost every morning I’m on line sending my pissed off opinions to my Senators and Representative. Yes, it is discouraging but still going to do it.
President Donald Trump is seeking to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in peace talks with Russia by pausing military aid to Ukraine.
A White House official said Trump wants Zelenskyy committed to the ending of the war that began when Russia invaded the now war-torn country. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance, added that the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
Scott
If it weren’t so disrespectful to real American heroes, it would be comical.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reinstated the name “Fort Benning” on Monday for one of the nation’s largest military bases — the second such reversal he’s ordered and the first that requires actually removing the name of a U.S. service member.
The base, located in Columbus, Georgia, had been renamed Fort Moore after Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, whose memoir “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young” chronicled his service in Vietnam. The name also commemorated his wife, Julia, who pushed the military to develop a more humane system for notifying family members of casualties.
Fort Moore, which was officially renamed in May 2023, was the first base named after a military family.
…
“I’m incredibly saddened,” said David Moore, the son of Hal and Julia, who helped lead the effort to rename the post after his parents. “My only conclusion is that [Hegseth] chose to reject Hal and Julia Moore.”
…
Fort Benning will now honor Cpl. Fred G. Benning, a World War I veteran who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross — an honor Hal Moore also earned. Its previous namesake was the Confederate general Henry Benning.
…
“I don’t believe we understand what he stands for,” Moore said of Hegseth. “Everything he commended Fred Benning for is what he already had in Hal and Julia Moore.”
Oh, I know what Hegseth stands for. And it isn’t for honor and tradition and America.
Sleeping Dog
Friday, the February economic numbers will begin coming out. The problem is, will they be believable?
Tony W
Here’s some low hanging fruit the Democrats could leverage to win some elections.
This is bad. Really, really bad. And the Republicans continue to defend child marriage in the context of religious freedom.
We need to get down in the gutter and fight these bastards. Call them what they are, in simple language.
Pete S
So it appears we are cutting off electricity sales from Ontario to the US. New York, Michigan and Minnesota are our biggest customers but from what I read every state except Texas is connected to the same grid.
Best of all, this is a local news report. With reporters going to the empty “hq” in San Antonio.
Jax
@Beth: I am sad and angry with you, but also so jealous you get to leave! (waves to you leaving on a life boat as most of us are stuck on the sinking Titanic)
just nutha
@Beth: We temper our sadness at your departure with relief that you’re going to a less toxic place. Bon voyage.
@Pete S: It’s not the same grid. There are multiple interconnection systems. There are three “main” grids (Eastern, Western, Texas) and within those there are smaller subsystem grids (Northwest power pool (NPP), New England, etc.). This is managed by independent systems operators (MISO, SPP, ISO-NE, PJM, etc.).
New England will be hardest hit in some aspects if Canada decides to shut off power (this has always been a risk, as we are heavily reliant on hydropower in some areas), but New York, Minnesota, and others will see hits in heavy manufacturing.
Are we great again yet? 😐
Grumpy realist
@Beth: I’m glad you’re going to a less crazy place.
I suspect that we are going to have to go through a long collapse here in the US and a lot of pain before the average American learns not to listen to politicians who tell them it’s ok to blame a section of society for their own failures and that self-pity solves anything.
charontwo
An interpretation, oval office Zelenskyy ambush:
Bear in mind that Vance is very unambiguously Russia’s bitch and Thiels bitch.
In order to understand the context of what happened, I decided that it would be helpful to watch the entire meeting. It lasted about 50 minutes, with all of the social media clips coming during the last 10 minutes. The first 40 minutes were fairly amiable. While Trump emphasized that the deal he wanted to sign would give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, Zelensky pointed to three things Ukraine wanted in exchange:
On-going air defense systems
Security guarantees
A return of the Ukrainian children that Russia has abducted
It is important to realize that the second point is something he has emphasized from the beginning. Here’s how it was framed three weeks ago:
The U.S. president, whose administration is pressing for a rapid end to Ukraine’s war with Russia, said on Monday he wanted Ukraine to supply the U.S. with rare earths and other minerals in return for financially supporting its war effort.
“If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it,” Zelenskiy said, emphasizing Ukraine’s need for security guarantees from its allies as part of any settlement…
Ukraine has rapidly retuned its foreign policy approach to align with the transactional world view set out by the new occupant of the White House, Ukraine’s most important ally.
In other words, Zelensky was smart enough to put these mineral rights on the table – knowing that it is exactly the kind of thing that would appeal to Trump. But he wanted something in return – security guarantees.
After about 40 unremarkable minutes of the meeting on Friday, Trump indicated that they would take one last question from the media. That’s when Vance interrupted to say that for four years Biden talked tough about Putin, who then invaded Ukraine – implying that Russia’s invasion was Biden’s fault. The vice president went on to suggest that it was time for diplomacy.
Zelensky responded by asking Vance, “what kind of diplomacy?” He pointed out that Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. After being elected president in 2019, Zelensky engaged directly with Putin in diplomacy and reached a cease fire agreement – which Russia failed to honor. That is why Zelensky is so adamant about including security guarantees as part of any cease fire deal.
Vance went on the attack against Zelensky – and was eventually joined by Trump.
After spouting Russian propaganda, Vance accused Zelensky of coming into the oval office and attacking the Trump administration. Nowhere during the entire exchange had Zelensky done that. But it was enough to enrage Trump – who has no love lost for Zelensky.
The rest of the discussion was basically Trump and Vance demanding that Zelensky submit to their dominance (“you don’t have the cards right now”) and be grateful (“have you said ‘thank you’ once today?”). Anyone who has ever lived with an abusive spouse will recognize those kinds of messages as threats.
A lot of people I admire are suggesting that this whole thing was choreographed to give Trump a reason to end all U.S. support for Ukraine. They might be right, but I’m a bit skeptical for a couple of reasons.
The first is that, if you watch the first 40 minutes of the meeting, you’ll see Trump practically salivating at the prospect of getting control of those rare earth minerals. In addition, the president praised himself over and over again for being the great peacemaker who was going to bring an end to the war. But all of that is now off the table.
The one who seemed to have planned an attack is Vance. It came out of nowhere and was particularly vicious. It was also calibrated to raise Trump’s hackles and get him engaged – which is, of course – easy to do.
It could be that Trump directed Vance to upend the entire deal. But I don’t give the president that much credit. My take leans more in the direction of thinking that it was Vance who staged the whole thing himself. To be honest, I don’t really know why. Perhaps, as James Landale suggests, he’s “developing a role as a political brawler for Trump,” specializing in going after our allies – as he did in Munich.
But I also suspect that Vance is aware of the fact that a shinny object like mineral rights is exactly the kind of thing that could distract Trump from the goal of upending the entire global order. The vice president just made sure that won’t happen.
Note that MTG’s boyfriend was a contributor with that insolent rude question about Zelenskyy’s clothing, MTG being another obvious bitch of Russia, and Trump being so sensitive about anything he sees as disrespectful.
Or, you could think of this as a bullfight, Vance being the matador who teases the bull, Trump into angry response. (By that analogy, the questioning MTG boyfriend would be a picador, Zelenskyy the matador’s cape).
The word for today, and maybe for the year, is “trumpcession.” The meaning is left as an exercise for the student.
Charley in Cleveland
@JKB: As usual, an ounce of truth wrapped in a ton of deceptive crap. The non-profit is Endeavors – a faith based entity (5 Christian churches) created in 1969 to assist military vets and first responders facing homelessness. In 2012 it contracted with the feds to provide shelter for migrant families, and the empty building in Pecos, TX is a migrant shelter. Per the non-profit: “Endeavors was responsible for maintaining operational readiness at the Pecos shelter, ensuring the ability to scale from Cold Status (operationally ready but not actively serving children) to full use of 3,000 beds as needed,” said the organization. “Decisions regarding facility use and migrant sheltering locations were made by the federal government, not Endeavors. Any claims of corruption or mismanagement are baseless.” And noteworthy – Endeavors does more than operate the Pecos facility. It’s main operation is in San Antonio. Once again, Musk and his incels look only at numbers and gleefully jump to a conclusion. Musk tweets about it and rightwing media goes to work creating WASTE FRAUD & ABUSE.
Franklin
Rooting out fraud and corruption is a legitimate function of government, and can be done without arbitrarily cutting legitimate services.
Michael Cain
@Jen: Right. There are a handful of small AC-DC-AC interties between the Eastern and Western Interconnects out in the middle of the Great Plains, but the two are not AC-synchronized and should be regarded as separate. The Western includes BC and Alberta. There used to be relatively substantial flows from BC suppliers to US western state consumers, but the net flows are almost zero these days. Drought and big wildfires in BC/Alberta have reduced that supply.
The Trump administration’s 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico took effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Many Texas businesses and those who work in manufacturing, logistics and trade anchored in San Antonio found themselves at the center of economic uncertainty.
“We’re very concerned that it’s going to harm what has been record employment in the State of Texas. And we’re concerned for the consumer,” said Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Businesses.
“There’s reports out there that imposing 25% tariffs could increase vehicles from anywhere between $3,000 to $9,000. We know in terms of produce. We rely on avocados and blueberries and other fresh produce from Mexico and Canada. That’s going to increase the price of groceries,” he said.
San Antonio is a key hub in the Texas-Mexico Automotive Supercluster, a network of suppliers and manufacturers stretching from North Texas to central Mexico. It’s made up of thousands of component parts that sometimes cross the border several times before a car is manufactured.
Stock market down again today about 1% so far. That’s buying power vaporized.
Have you ever thought how wasteful fire departments are?
They generate no revenue at all. Instead they consume resources in order to put out fires and rescue people trapped in burning structures.
This is disgraceful. Fire departments can be a huge source of revenue. It’s not a new idea. It dates back over 2000 years. It just fell out of favor for some reason.
Now, I don’t suggest cities start charging for either putting out fires of rescuing people. No, that would look bad. Instead, fire departments will refrain from spilling even a drop of water on a fire, until the property owner agrees to sell the burning structure to the city for 10% of its nominal value (maybe as assessed for property tax purposes). The city then can sell it in the market at a huge profit.
What? this is what Crassus did, very successfully, in Rome. It made him the richest man in Rome, and maybe the world, and got him included in Augustus’ Triumvirate.
BTW, the word “crass” has nothing to do with any of this.
JohnSF
@charontwo:
Chancellor Merz has indicated he sees the White House meltdown and a deliberate move, and that Vance was the one who led the attack.
Whether this was planned with Trump in advance, or Vance was wrecking freelance is a question.
I suspected it may have been planned as “good cop/bad cop” but that Trump simply doesn’t have the self-discipline to stick to any such script.
On the other hand, the assistance suspension and co-ordinated Republican/media attacks indicate that Merz is correct, and this was intentional from the outset
INFO LE FIGARO – The RN’s “natural” candidate for the next presidential election is changing her tune towards the Trump administration. “It’s very cruel for Ukrainian soldiers engaged in the patriotic defense of their country,” she told Le Figaro.
This time Marine Le Pen could no longer avoid the subject of the American change of heart on the war in Ukraine. On Monday evening, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, decided to “temporarily” suspend American military aid to kyiv, with the consequence of immediately interrupting deliveries of arms and ammunition to Ukraine, including those already ordered
A decision already welcomed by Russia, which considers this suspension to be “the best contribution to peace”, but a shock for the rest of the Western world. A “betrayal” even, for former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, interviewed by France Inter this Tuesday morning.
Fortune
@Sleeping Dog: They’ll be statistically accurate based on available inputs, they always are. Whether you consider them believable is up to you. In 1994 BLS changed measurement of the unemployement rate, and some people have criticized it but it’s not considered biased. In 2000 the Census Bureau proposed statistical sampling for population, but it was ruled unconstitutional. Other than those cases only cranks have criticized economic statistics as political. The NBER is a bit more controversial but it’s not a government agency.
@JKB: That may or may not be fraudulent. That may or may not be accurate. Goodness knows, so many of the statements DOGE is making are flatly wrong.
But if we say it’s accurate, and the behavior is actually fraudulent (maybe the terms of the grant allow this, right? Have you read them? Has Musk? Has Trump?) then good for them.
I am not against using AI to find fraud. As a first pass. Then humans should look at it, and verify that what was found is actually fraud. Rather than trumpeting it about on media without any sign that they have tried to get their facts right. You know, like calling Lutheran Social Services a den of criminals or whatever it was.
Meanwhile, the administration has done a “pause” on Ukraine aid. The administration does not have this ability, under law. Do you support that? Do you think that’s an acceptable thing to do?
I hope in the near future, someone starts a studio that makes a wholly AI created (written by AI with AI actors) Hercules, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, The Shadow movies.
Jay L Gischer
@Jay L Gischer: I see now that, as I thought might be the case, the claim is wrong. The empty warehouse is empty because it is supposed to be empty. It is housing capacity kept ready for a surge of use. It’s not like they are paying rent in California, after all. It seems like a cheap alternative.
But that doesn’t stop the hysterical media machine from screaming “fraud” with regard to an intended use of money. And it doesn’t give you pause when reading media you consider “friendly”. I evaluate my friendly media all the damn time.
Meanwhile, I still would like to know how you feel about the “pause” in Ukraine aid. Do you think it’s legal? Do you think its acceptable for a president to do that?
Jen
Meanwhile, North and South Carolina are dealing with raging fires. Where could FEMA possibly be?
Dutchgirl
I have a child in 5th grade at a charter school, which are funded here in a way that relies heavily on federal money. I am very concerned her school may not survive before she gets to graduate 8th grade. And I’ll break out in hives thinking about high school.
Gustopher
@Beth: I’m sad that it came to this, but glad you’re getting yourself and your family somewhere safer.
Gustopher
@Paul L.: Generative AI is really bad about knowing where it is sourcing information from, so it is very likely that it would hit copyrighted material. The 1980s Buck Roger’s show and Flash Gordon movies for instance.
Mister Bluster
TODAY’S RANT!
Adult males, you know who you are, stop leaving your used adult diapers on the floor behind the toilet in public restroom stalls*!
The trash can is five feet way!
*Like Panera and Kroger where I have found them. One time I went into a toilet stall at Kroger and found two of them on the floor.
End of Rant!
Looks like we are starting with a 25% export tax on electricity rather than cutting off the supply. I think Quebec and BC are doing the same. I love seeing our PM call Trump’s actions “dumb”.
I just hope you find the UK a more comfortable and welcoming place. It is appalling that you need to leave but I think everyone here hopes for the best for you.
Trump Abruptly Walks Back His Directive To Fire Thousands Of Federal Employees
President Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly walked back his directive to federal agencies to fire thousands of probationary employees, a stunning reversal that comes days after a federal judge ruled that the president’s ongoing mass firings of federal workers are probably illegal.
In a new memo delivered to the heads of all federal agencies, the Office of Personnel Management ― the human resources agency of the federal government ― says it doesn’t actually have to comply with its previous instructions to fire all probationary employees, or people who have generally held their jobs for a year or less. Instead, per this memo, federal agencies have until Sept. 13 to come up with their own plans for reducing staff. HUFFPOST
Than there’s this. You’d think forcing people back to the office assumes 1) there’s an office for them to get back to, and 2) there’s an office where they can actually work in.
Long ago, one of the owners had the bright (ie trumpian) idea to relocate our department to a nearby semi-industrial area that 1) had zero parking, 2) was a really terrible are with poor street lights (just the thing for walking two three blocks to your car at 2-3 am, no?), and 3) isolated us from the rest of the corporate offices.
It was the third thing that shot down the whole project. after all, we depend on several papers and documents like financial statements, employment records, tax returns, and other things we need for parts of the proposals we put together.
But then, as obtuse as owners can be, they tend not to be nazi morons.
@Beth: Wishing you safe travels and better days ahead.
JohnSF
@charontwo:
It’s interesting that both Meloni (almost from the outset) and Le Pen now are lining up behind Ukraine, and increasingly against Trump (and by implication, the US more generally).
As I’ve observed before: European nationalists are, at base, both European and nationalists.
They can see a basic challenge to the interests of Europe when its rather obvious.
And tend to have little love for either the US or Russia.
Even Farage in the UK is keeping his head down on this: Trump is now utterly toxic in UK politics.
Mainstream European leaders have similar imperatives: see Merz, and today BitishConservative party leader Badenoch:
“I watched (the White House meeting) and I couldn’t believe what was happening,” (Zelensky was) “being humiliated”.
“Europe faces the biggest challenge to her safety since the Cold War. “
The interesting question is if the AfD will shift at all.
They have tended to be pro-Russia as somehow an icon of “traditionalism” (daft, but there you go), and work on a basis of “Ossi” resentment of the “Wessi” CDU/CSU and SPD establishment, which includes “Atlanticism”.
But otoh, Germans in general have scant love for Russia.
Early January: “Since my election the stock market has set records. The S&P 500 Index has broken above 6,000 points for the first time ever. Never even close.”
Early March: S&P 500 Index closed at 5,778, down about 3 percent the last two days and about 6 percent the last two weeks. Something for him to talk about tonight, although I don’t think I’ll be watching.
I tend to look for the simplest explanations with Trump. Pans out pretty well most of the time. They like to think they are play chess but in reality it’s tic-tack-toe. Since the fireworks were not apparent for over half an hour and depended on Zelenskyy’s decision to engage, it was unplanned.
Trump became outraged, per usual, at being argued with, and his lap-dog, fully attuned to his master’s vibes, yapped and growled reflexively.
Jay L Gischer
@JohnSF: Doesn’t “Russia is traditionalist” mean “Putin hates gays”?
They can see a basic challenge to the interests of Europe when its rather obvious.
And tend to have little love for either the US or Russia.
For the sake of argument, for 75 years Europe chose to let the US build/operate the thousands of nuclear warheads and the delivery systems to counter what the Soviet Union built. Europe chose to have the US Navy provide the means to ensure logistics across the Atlantic in the case of a non-nuclear war. Europe chose to assume the US could/would provide large stocks of conventional arms if needed. Europe chose to have 100,000+ US Army and Air Force personnel and kit in Europe as a tripwire. Europe could have funded a bunch of that by a permanent trade deficit, or buying up a couple trillion dollars of low-interest Treasuries instead of China, or simply cash.
On my bad days — this is one — it seems that it was inevitable that sooner or later some faction in the US would get enough control to say, “No more of that.” Now there’s Trump. Eager to pull out of NATO and the tripwire obligation. Eager to shed the manufacturing job. The US Navy’s ability to ensure a WWII style logistics flow will almost certainly follow. I notice that no one in Europe seems to be taking the obvious position (given Trump’s nature) of offering, “Donald, we’ll pay a lot to have you build conventional weapons, maintain the Atlantic fleet, and upgrade your nukes.”
Kathy
I may have it all wrong, but it seems Spring comes earlier each year. This year the weather was decidedly Spring like by February 20th, a full month ahead of schedule. The last few days I’ve had the AC on for the morning drive. That’s rare even for actual Spring (Late March through June).
It’s not hot enough to get me to believe the effort associated with breaking out the ice cream maker is worth it (lots more stuff to wash), but it’s close. I’ve already half decided to experiment how best to dissolve cocoa in milk, and how well lime and orange juice mix with either milk, cream, or yogurt (it should curdle, but I’ve seen orange and other citrus based ice cream, not sorbet).
So, is climate change still a Chinese hoax, or has the denialist delusion changed to something else by now?
I’m glad to see it. Zelenskyy is a good man but not a trained diplomat. With experience he will be one, bet the farm.
Engaging in an public argument with, of all people Trump, was a rookie mistake. Gotta kiss some ass to keep the missiles coming? Not a problem. Say you will negotiate? Why argue it out with Trump and his lap dog? Just say “Yes sir! Three bags full sir!” -and do whatever ya want at the negotiating table.
Shin Bet issued a statement where it admits the agency failed in its mission to prevent Hamas’ October 7 attack by ignoring repeated warning signs.
Then they blame Bibi:
Among the factors that contributed to Hamas’ decision to launch the attack, the report summary said, were Israeli politicians’ visits to the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, “the treatment of prisoners, and the perception that Israeli society has been weakened due to the damage to social cohesion.”
That’s serious dysfunction in security, in a country that faces the biggest threats from groups like Hamas and other Iranian proxies.
JohnSF
@Jay L Gischer:
That’s part of it.
But also Muslims (which is rather funny, given Russia has had a Muslim population since medieval times: Kazan and all that).
And also general “muscularity” (Hi, Elon!)
Flags, tanks, parades, “greatness”, the “strong leader”, “national virility”, yadda yadda.
From the British international history pov, we’ve seen this film before.
The final reel is a bit of a let down, all things considered
JohnSF
@Michael Cain:
Depends.
The UK and France have for long maintained, and still do, sufficient nuclear weapons to wreck Russia (or the USSR before it).
Thousands simply make the rubble bounce.
500 or so are sufficient to annihilate Greater Moscow, and St Petersburg, and then to hit almost every Russian town with a population north of 5ok, and STILL have some left over for major military bases and oil/gas fields.
For most of the Cold War, it was assumed the main fighting would be done by the forces in place, not trans-Atlantic reinforcements. The war was likely either to be over or gone nuke before they came into play.
Even today, European NATO states spend $450 bn pa on defence, and (excluding Turkey) have a combined military manpower of 1,648,000.
They actually deploy MORE operational MBT, artillery, fighter aircraft etc than the US.
The European problem is there is no European central defence authority: much expenditure is wasted in duplication (x 30) of national defence ministries, procurement systems, natioanl command staff etc etc.
Because defence is a national prerogative.
Imagine the US if there was no US military, but every state operating its own separate armed forces.
As for “Donald, we’ll pay a lot to have you build conventional weapons, maintain the Atlantic fleet, and upgrade your nukes.”
Screw that.
If we really must shell out on the scale of the Cold War (when many European countries paid out at about 5% GDP on defence) be damned if we’ll be buying from a US we cannot rely on.
European defence companies and politicians like a pay-day at least as much as American ones do.
Seems to most in Europe, and including the UK, right now, De Gaulle was right all along.
We”ll be having our own fleets, own nukes, and own etc etc.
Beth
And I’m gone.
Shortly into Canada. Then Heathrow, the London, then Hackney. One day to settle in and breakdown. Then I have to go Sarah Connor and get us sorted.
Holy shit.
just nutha
@Kingdaddy: A few days back, Bezos announced a shift in policy for opinion page articles to personal liberties (whatever that means) and free markets as the primary topics for opinion pieces. My guess is that tariffs come outside the boundaries of what can be discussed for the same reasons that WaPo moved away from endorsing candidates.
JohnSF
@dazedandconfused:
If you watch the whole thing, Zelensky was perfectly reasonable.
Hence the general European view: it was an ambush, and Vance was the shooter.
just nutha
@Paul L.: This may be the first good idea I’ve seen from you in as long as I can remember (except for the Hercules movies). I don’t think there’s enough market given that no new material is being published for any of them, but I’m a retro guy, so I’ll certainly watch them on Tubi for free when they go into syndication. [thumbs up emoji]
just nutha
@Jen: Wait… Don’t NC and SC have some sort of giant faucet to turn on to put out the fires? And if they don’t, shouldn’t they have built one, like California did?
(Shouldn’t they have been raking their forests, too? Is FEMA supposed to be helping everyone, willy nilly, no matter how much their problem is their own fault?)
just nutha
@Mister Bluster: I’ma guess that Cracker’s original response plan–“this department does not have any surplus employees, and all of the current ones are at their properly-assigned worksites”–is not going to fly any better now than originally, but…
Kingdaddy
@just nutha: That was precisely my point. The shift to “free markets and personal liberties” was a cowardly dodge for not covering topics that might make Trump angry. For instance how tariffs are destructive, not just of free markets, but so much else.
dazedandconfused
@JohnSF: The mistake was engaging, not in what he said.
Jax
@Michael Cain: My heart is with you. I don’t even know what to say, only that I can guess why you’re angry. If you’d like to share some of your favorite memories of your wife, I would like to hear them. How did you fall in love with her?
Eusebio
@just nutha: “Don’t NC and SC have some sort of giant faucet to turn on to put out the fires?”
I can answer this. The John H. Kerr Dam & Reservoir, located on the VA/NC border, is operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. So Hegseth can just give the order to open the dam gates, and the water will flow “down” to NC and SC.
Jax
@Eusebio: I love the differing skill levels I see in these comment threads. You just never know what you’re gonna get!
just nutha
@Jax, via @Eusebio: WA! I had no idea. You just never know, indeed!
Eusebio
@just nutha:
Although I probably should’ve added “/s”.
Was thinking of Hegseth’s screw-up during his first week on the job when he ordered water released from two central CA reservoirs operated by USACE. The administration then claimed that the water was being sent to SoCal, but a) SoCal didn’t need the water, and b) the water—more than 2 billion gallons—could only go as far as a dry lake bed in central CA. Also that multiple administration statements lead one to believe they think water flows from north to south because it’s “down” on the map.
Beth
Well, about 45 minutes until I find out what the UK immigration people think about the large bag of estrogen.
As long as no one’s undone the vacuum bags. It’s just clothes, but it’s all my clothes.
Comments
75 responses to “Tuesday’s Forum”
Everyday I gets pissed off. It is almost every morning I’m on line sending my pissed off opinions to my Senators and Representative. Yes, it is discouraging but still going to do it.
Trump orders a ‘pause’ of US military aid for Ukraine
If it weren’t so disrespectful to real American heroes, it would be comical.
Hegseth returns Army base to Fort Benning in second naming reversal
Oh, I know what Hegseth stands for. And it isn’t for honor and tradition and America.
Friday, the February economic numbers will begin coming out. The problem is, will they be believable?
Here’s some low hanging fruit the Democrats could leverage to win some elections.
A disturbing article on the epidemic of child marriage in the United States.
This is bad. Really, really bad. And the Republicans continue to defend child marriage in the context of religious freedom.
We need to get down in the gutter and fight these bastards. Call them what they are, in simple language.
So it appears we are cutting off electricity sales from Ontario to the US. New York, Michigan and Minnesota are our biggest customers but from what I read every state except Texas is connected to the same grid.
@Pete S: Well that’s going to cut into my local utility’s $890 million profit margin.
@Pete S: Let me guess Trump’s response: “So what, those are blue states”.
I leave my home today at 6:30 pm. I am unbelievably angry and sad.
Dolly Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, 82, has died. RIP.
@Tony W: Disgusting. Thank you for posting about this largely unnoticed problem. The article deserves to be read, all the way through.
HHS stopping $18 million per month going to San Antonio “non-profit” for maintaining an empty facility. They got $1.1 billion, with a “b” from the Biden admin in 2022.
Best of all, this is a local news report. With reporters going to the empty “hq” in San Antonio.
@Beth: I am sad and angry with you, but also so jealous you get to leave! (waves to you leaving on a life boat as most of us are stuck on the sinking Titanic)
@Beth: We temper our sadness at your departure with relief that you’re going to a less toxic place. Bon voyage.
@Beth:
Good luck.
@Pete S: It’s not the same grid. There are multiple interconnection systems. There are three “main” grids (Eastern, Western, Texas) and within those there are smaller subsystem grids (Northwest power pool (NPP), New England, etc.). This is managed by independent systems operators (MISO, SPP, ISO-NE, PJM, etc.).
New England will be hardest hit in some aspects if Canada decides to shut off power (this has always been a risk, as we are heavily reliant on hydropower in some areas), but New York, Minnesota, and others will see hits in heavy manufacturing.
Are we great again yet? 😐
@Beth: I’m glad you’re going to a less crazy place.
I suspect that we are going to have to go through a long collapse here in the US and a lot of pain before the average American learns not to listen to politicians who tell them it’s ok to blame a section of society for their own failures and that self-pity solves anything.
An interpretation, oval office Zelenskyy ambush:
Bear in mind that Vance is very unambiguously Russia’s bitch and Thiels bitch.
“Horizons Nancy LeTourneau”
Note that MTG’s boyfriend was a contributor with that insolent rude question about Zelenskyy’s clothing, MTG being another obvious bitch of Russia, and Trump being so sensitive about anything he sees as disrespectful.
Or, you could think of this as a bullfight, Vance being the matador who teases the bull, Trump into angry response. (By that analogy, the questioning MTG boyfriend would be a picador, Zelenskyy the matador’s cape).
@Beth: Good luck, find peace, and stay in touch.
The word for today, and maybe for the year, is “trumpcession.” The meaning is left as an exercise for the student.
@JKB: As usual, an ounce of truth wrapped in a ton of deceptive crap. The non-profit is Endeavors – a faith based entity (5 Christian churches) created in 1969 to assist military vets and first responders facing homelessness. In 2012 it contracted with the feds to provide shelter for migrant families, and the empty building in Pecos, TX is a migrant shelter. Per the non-profit:
“Endeavors was responsible for maintaining operational readiness at the Pecos shelter, ensuring the ability to scale from Cold Status (operationally ready but not actively serving children) to full use of 3,000 beds as needed,” said the organization. “Decisions regarding facility use and migrant sheltering locations were made by the federal government, not Endeavors. Any claims of corruption or mismanagement are baseless.” And noteworthy – Endeavors does more than operate the Pecos facility. It’s main operation is in San Antonio. Once again, Musk and his incels look only at numbers and gleefully jump to a conclusion. Musk tweets about it and rightwing media goes to work creating WASTE FRAUD & ABUSE.
Rooting out fraud and corruption is a legitimate function of government, and can be done without arbitrarily cutting legitimate services.
@Jen: Right. There are a handful of small AC-DC-AC interties between the Eastern and Western Interconnects out in the middle of the Great Plains, but the two are not AC-synchronized and should be regarded as separate. The Western includes BC and Alberta. There used to be relatively substantial flows from BC suppliers to US western state consumers, but the net flows are almost zero these days. Drought and big wildfires in BC/Alberta have reduced that supply.
Tariffs: What’s not to like.
San Antonio caught in a trade war as Trump tariffs take effect
Stock market down again today about 1% so far. That’s buying power vaporized.
@Beth:
We insist you keep in touch. That’s an order.
Have you ever thought how wasteful fire departments are?
They generate no revenue at all. Instead they consume resources in order to put out fires and rescue people trapped in burning structures.
This is disgraceful. Fire departments can be a huge source of revenue. It’s not a new idea. It dates back over 2000 years. It just fell out of favor for some reason.
Now, I don’t suggest cities start charging for either putting out fires of rescuing people. No, that would look bad. Instead, fire departments will refrain from spilling even a drop of water on a fire, until the property owner agrees to sell the burning structure to the city for 10% of its nominal value (maybe as assessed for property tax purposes). The city then can sell it in the market at a huge profit.
What? this is what Crassus did, very successfully, in Rome. It made him the richest man in Rome, and maybe the world, and got him included in Augustus’ Triumvirate.
BTW, the word “crass” has nothing to do with any of this.
@charontwo:
Chancellor Merz has indicated he sees the White House meltdown and a deliberate move, and that Vance was the one who led the attack.
Whether this was planned with Trump in advance, or Vance was wrecking freelance is a question.
I suspected it may have been planned as “good cop/bad cop” but that Trump simply doesn’t have the self-discipline to stick to any such script.
On the other hand, the assistance suspension and co-ordinated Republican/media attacks indicate that Merz is correct, and this was intentional from the outset
Reality has developed a critical error.
Please switch this reality off and restart:
“Marine Le Pen condemns the “brutality” of the United States’ decision to suspend aid to Ukraine”
As of this writing, today’s opinion page of the Washington Post web site says nothing about tariffs.
@JohnSF:
As far as I was able to read (google translate):
@Sleeping Dog: They’ll be statistically accurate based on available inputs, they always are. Whether you consider them believable is up to you. In 1994 BLS changed measurement of the unemployement rate, and some people have criticized it but it’s not considered biased. In 2000 the Census Bureau proposed statistical sampling for population, but it was ruled unconstitutional. Other than those cases only cranks have criticized economic statistics as political. The NBER is a bit more controversial but it’s not a government agency.
@JKB:
https://youtu.be/JNail6JjEiE?si=eho0u69KtXLbxiJ8
@Beth: I like this one better in regards to JKB. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiihC0yE4Ds
@JKB: That may or may not be fraudulent. That may or may not be accurate. Goodness knows, so many of the statements DOGE is making are flatly wrong.
But if we say it’s accurate, and the behavior is actually fraudulent (maybe the terms of the grant allow this, right? Have you read them? Has Musk? Has Trump?) then good for them.
I am not against using AI to find fraud. As a first pass. Then humans should look at it, and verify that what was found is actually fraud. Rather than trumpeting it about on media without any sign that they have tried to get their facts right. You know, like calling Lutheran Social Services a den of criminals or whatever it was.
Meanwhile, the administration has done a “pause” on Ukraine aid. The administration does not have this ability, under law. Do you support that? Do you think that’s an acceptable thing to do?
I hope in the near future, someone starts a studio that makes a wholly AI created (written by AI with AI actors) Hercules, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, The Shadow movies.
@Jay L Gischer: I see now that, as I thought might be the case, the claim is wrong. The empty warehouse is empty because it is supposed to be empty. It is housing capacity kept ready for a surge of use. It’s not like they are paying rent in California, after all. It seems like a cheap alternative.
But that doesn’t stop the hysterical media machine from screaming “fraud” with regard to an intended use of money. And it doesn’t give you pause when reading media you consider “friendly”. I evaluate my friendly media all the damn time.
Meanwhile, I still would like to know how you feel about the “pause” in Ukraine aid. Do you think it’s legal? Do you think its acceptable for a president to do that?
Meanwhile, North and South Carolina are dealing with raging fires. Where could FEMA possibly be?
I have a child in 5th grade at a charter school, which are funded here in a way that relies heavily on federal money. I am very concerned her school may not survive before she gets to graduate 8th grade. And I’ll break out in hives thinking about high school.
@Beth: I’m sad that it came to this, but glad you’re getting yourself and your family somewhere safer.
@Paul L.: Generative AI is really bad about knowing where it is sourcing information from, so it is very likely that it would hit copyrighted material. The 1980s Buck Roger’s show and Flash Gordon movies for instance.
TODAY’S RANT!
Adult males, you know who you are, stop leaving your used adult diapers on the floor behind the toilet in public restroom stalls*!
The trash can is five feet way!
*Like Panera and Kroger where I have found them. One time I went into a toilet stall at Kroger and found two of them on the floor.
End of Rant!
@Jen:
I have one cousin who took a direct hit from Helene and another who’s in the midst of the wildfires. Too much.
@Mister Bluster:
Well, that’s disgusting.
@Jen:
Looks like we are starting with a 25% export tax on electricity rather than cutting off the supply. I think Quebec and BC are doing the same. I love seeing our PM call Trump’s actions “dumb”.
@Beth:
I just hope you find the UK a more comfortable and welcoming place. It is appalling that you need to leave but I think everyone here hopes for the best for you.
I just saw this story from Reuters: US Ukraine to sign minerals deal, sources say; Zelensky pledges to “make things right”
More roller coaster ride. Very muted response from Congress on this.
@Jay L Gischer:..More roller coaster ride.
Space Mountain or the Flying Mouse?
@Mister Bluster:
He really does have his head up his ass, doesn’t he?
@Mister Bluster:
Than there’s this. You’d think forcing people back to the office assumes 1) there’s an office for them to get back to, and 2) there’s an office where they can actually work in.
Long ago, one of the owners had the bright (ie trumpian) idea to relocate our department to a nearby semi-industrial area that 1) had zero parking, 2) was a really terrible are with poor street lights (just the thing for walking two three blocks to your car at 2-3 am, no?), and 3) isolated us from the rest of the corporate offices.
It was the third thing that shot down the whole project. after all, we depend on several papers and documents like financial statements, employment records, tax returns, and other things we need for parts of the proposals we put together.
But then, as obtuse as owners can be, they tend not to be nazi morons.
@CSK:..his head up his ass…
Truth!
@Beth: Wishing you safe travels and better days ahead.
@charontwo:
It’s interesting that both Meloni (almost from the outset) and Le Pen now are lining up behind Ukraine, and increasingly against Trump (and by implication, the US more generally).
As I’ve observed before: European nationalists are, at base, both European and nationalists.
They can see a basic challenge to the interests of Europe when its rather obvious.
And tend to have little love for either the US or Russia.
Even Farage in the UK is keeping his head down on this: Trump is now utterly toxic in UK politics.
Mainstream European leaders have similar imperatives: see Merz, and today BitishConservative party leader Badenoch:
The interesting question is if the AfD will shift at all.
They have tended to be pro-Russia as somehow an icon of “traditionalism” (daft, but there you go), and work on a basis of “Ossi” resentment of the “Wessi” CDU/CSU and SPD establishment, which includes “Atlanticism”.
But otoh, Germans in general have scant love for Russia.
@Scott:
Well, it seems to have worked.
Early January: “Since my election the stock market has set records. The S&P 500 Index has broken above 6,000 points for the first time ever. Never even close.”
Early March: S&P 500 Index closed at 5,778, down about 3 percent the last two days and about 6 percent the last two weeks. Something for him to talk about tonight, although I don’t think I’ll be watching.
@JohnSF:
I tend to look for the simplest explanations with Trump. Pans out pretty well most of the time. They like to think they are play chess but in reality it’s tic-tack-toe. Since the fireworks were not apparent for over half an hour and depended on Zelenskyy’s decision to engage, it was unplanned.
Trump became outraged, per usual, at being argued with, and his lap-dog, fully attuned to his master’s vibes, yapped and growled reflexively.
@JohnSF: Doesn’t “Russia is traditionalist” mean “Putin hates gays”?
@JohnSF:
For the sake of argument, for 75 years Europe chose to let the US build/operate the thousands of nuclear warheads and the delivery systems to counter what the Soviet Union built. Europe chose to have the US Navy provide the means to ensure logistics across the Atlantic in the case of a non-nuclear war. Europe chose to assume the US could/would provide large stocks of conventional arms if needed. Europe chose to have 100,000+ US Army and Air Force personnel and kit in Europe as a tripwire. Europe could have funded a bunch of that by a permanent trade deficit, or buying up a couple trillion dollars of low-interest Treasuries instead of China, or simply cash.
On my bad days — this is one — it seems that it was inevitable that sooner or later some faction in the US would get enough control to say, “No more of that.” Now there’s Trump. Eager to pull out of NATO and the tripwire obligation. Eager to shed the manufacturing job. The US Navy’s ability to ensure a WWII style logistics flow will almost certainly follow. I notice that no one in Europe seems to be taking the obvious position (given Trump’s nature) of offering, “Donald, we’ll pay a lot to have you build conventional weapons, maintain the Atlantic fleet, and upgrade your nukes.”
I may have it all wrong, but it seems Spring comes earlier each year. This year the weather was decidedly Spring like by February 20th, a full month ahead of schedule. The last few days I’ve had the AC on for the morning drive. That’s rare even for actual Spring (Late March through June).
It’s not hot enough to get me to believe the effort associated with breaking out the ice cream maker is worth it (lots more stuff to wash), but it’s close. I’ve already half decided to experiment how best to dissolve cocoa in milk, and how well lime and orange juice mix with either milk, cream, or yogurt (it should curdle, but I’ve seen orange and other citrus based ice cream, not sorbet).
So, is climate change still a Chinese hoax, or has the denialist delusion changed to something else by now?
@Jay L Gischer:
I’m glad to see it. Zelenskyy is a good man but not a trained diplomat. With experience he will be one, bet the farm.
Engaging in an public argument with, of all people Trump, was a rookie mistake. Gotta kiss some ass to keep the missiles coming? Not a problem. Say you will negotiate? Why argue it out with Trump and his lap dog? Just say “Yes sir! Three bags full sir!” -and do whatever ya want at the negotiating table.
I’d no idea things were this bad inside Israel.
Shin Bet issued a statement where it admits the agency failed in its mission to prevent Hamas’ October 7 attack by ignoring repeated warning signs.
Then they blame Bibi:
That’s serious dysfunction in security, in a country that faces the biggest threats from groups like Hamas and other Iranian proxies.
@Jay L Gischer:
That’s part of it.
But also Muslims (which is rather funny, given Russia has had a Muslim population since medieval times: Kazan and all that).
And also general “muscularity” (Hi, Elon!)
Flags, tanks, parades, “greatness”, the “strong leader”, “national virility”, yadda yadda.
From the British international history pov, we’ve seen this film before.
The final reel is a bit of a let down, all things considered
@Michael Cain:
Depends.
The UK and France have for long maintained, and still do, sufficient nuclear weapons to wreck Russia (or the USSR before it).
Thousands simply make the rubble bounce.
500 or so are sufficient to annihilate Greater Moscow, and St Petersburg, and then to hit almost every Russian town with a population north of 5ok, and STILL have some left over for major military bases and oil/gas fields.
For most of the Cold War, it was assumed the main fighting would be done by the forces in place, not trans-Atlantic reinforcements. The war was likely either to be over or gone nuke before they came into play.
And most of these, contrary to some American mythology, were largely European. Albeit with a valuable US assist.
Even today, European NATO states spend $450 bn pa on defence, and (excluding Turkey) have a combined military manpower of 1,648,000.
They actually deploy MORE operational MBT, artillery, fighter aircraft etc than the US.
The European problem is there is no European central defence authority: much expenditure is wasted in duplication (x 30) of national defence ministries, procurement systems, natioanl command staff etc etc.
Because defence is a national prerogative.
Imagine the US if there was no US military, but every state operating its own separate armed forces.
As for “Donald, we’ll pay a lot to have you build conventional weapons, maintain the Atlantic fleet, and upgrade your nukes.”
Screw that.
If we really must shell out on the scale of the Cold War (when many European countries paid out at about 5% GDP on defence) be damned if we’ll be buying from a US we cannot rely on.
European defence companies and politicians like a pay-day at least as much as American ones do.
Seems to most in Europe, and including the UK, right now, De Gaulle was right all along.
We”ll be having our own fleets, own nukes, and own etc etc.
And I’m gone.
Shortly into Canada. Then Heathrow, the London, then Hackney. One day to settle in and breakdown. Then I have to go Sarah Connor and get us sorted.
Holy shit.
@Kingdaddy: A few days back, Bezos announced a shift in policy for opinion page articles to personal liberties (whatever that means) and free markets as the primary topics for opinion pieces. My guess is that tariffs come outside the boundaries of what can be discussed for the same reasons that WaPo moved away from endorsing candidates.
@dazedandconfused:
If you watch the whole thing, Zelensky was perfectly reasonable.
Hence the general European view: it was an ambush, and Vance was the shooter.
@Paul L.: This may be the first good idea I’ve seen from you in as long as I can remember (except for the Hercules movies). I don’t think there’s enough market given that no new material is being published for any of them, but I’m a retro guy, so I’ll certainly watch them on Tubi for free when they go into syndication. [thumbs up emoji]
@Jen: Wait… Don’t NC and SC have some sort of giant faucet to turn on to put out the fires? And if they don’t, shouldn’t they have built one, like California did?
(Shouldn’t they have been raking their forests, too? Is FEMA supposed to be helping everyone, willy nilly, no matter how much their problem is their own fault?)
@Mister Bluster: I’ma guess that Cracker’s original response plan–“this department does not have any surplus employees, and all of the current ones are at their properly-assigned worksites”–is not going to fly any better now than originally, but…
@just nutha: That was precisely my point. The shift to “free markets and personal liberties” was a cowardly dodge for not covering topics that might make Trump angry. For instance how tariffs are destructive, not just of free markets, but so much else.
@JohnSF: The mistake was engaging, not in what he said.
@Michael Cain: My heart is with you. I don’t even know what to say, only that I can guess why you’re angry. If you’d like to share some of your favorite memories of your wife, I would like to hear them. How did you fall in love with her?
@just nutha: “Don’t NC and SC have some sort of giant faucet to turn on to put out the fires?”
I can answer this. The John H. Kerr Dam & Reservoir, located on the VA/NC border, is operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. So Hegseth can just give the order to open the dam gates, and the water will flow “down” to NC and SC.
@Eusebio: I love the differing skill levels I see in these comment threads. You just never know what you’re gonna get!
@Jax, via @Eusebio: WA! I had no idea. You just never know, indeed!
@just nutha:
Although I probably should’ve added “/s”.
Was thinking of Hegseth’s screw-up during his first week on the job when he ordered water released from two central CA reservoirs operated by USACE. The administration then claimed that the water was being sent to SoCal, but a) SoCal didn’t need the water, and b) the water—more than 2 billion gallons—could only go as far as a dry lake bed in central CA. Also that multiple administration statements lead one to believe they think water flows from north to south because it’s “down” on the map.
Well, about 45 minutes until I find out what the UK immigration people think about the large bag of estrogen.
As long as no one’s undone the vacuum bags. It’s just clothes, but it’s all my clothes.
About to enter Wales.