The Autocracy is Here, So Are Tariffs 😱💩 ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️ 💩😱

😱😱😱: First it was the announcement that Elon Musk who no one elected would be in charge of cost cutting and most yawned because he’s the “genius” who grew Tesla into an electric car force and shoots rockets into the air so what if he also spews hatred, is fueled by ketamine, and screwed a whole bunch of Twitter employees out of their income and severance.  Then it was DEI and a whole lot of people shrugged thinking diversity programs were overreach anyway while quietly hoping their elimination would make it easier for their white kids, mostly their sons, to get into their preferred colleges and to get better jobs when or if they graduated.  Then it was the edict that going forward there would be only two sexes and most yawned again because truth be told they’re uncomfortable around those trans people anyway and don’t want to even contemplate one playing on their high school sports team, not that one ever has, so why shouldn’t trans people be forced back into the closet?  Then it was the freezing of all government grants and loans, and they yawned again, because it turned out to be only temporary, well maybe only temporary for now, so all the outrage was really just the whining of a few Medicaid recipients and who really cares about those underprivileged types, especially if a tax cut beckons. Then it was the suspension of the PEPFAR AIDs program, and again more yawning because maybe if those Africans were abstinent or used condoms, they wouldn’t need drugs to stay healthy and anyway they’re far away and the suspension turned out to be temporary, for now, so whatever.  Now it’s purges at the FBI of anyone and everyone who in the course of their every day duties remotely touched anything related to the investigation of the January 6 thugs or Trump, maybe hundreds of agents, the men and women who are supposed to be keeping the country safe from crime and terrorism, a bit concerning but still some yawning because how many of us hang out with FBI agents anyway? Give a shout out to the head of the NY FBI office who is pushing back against the order but do it fast, because he’ll be fired soon.  Over the weekend the crazy got personal and  more concerning for those who’ve been yawning,  because Elon Musk’s marauders, a team made up of a group of 20 to 24 year olds, white guys with maybe one Asian thrown in to the mix but certainly no one who is Black or female, have been given access to the US Treasury payment system, which means that aspiring techno fascists who are not vetted federal employees, now control the system that sends out your social security payments, receives Medicare premiums and makes Medicare payments, sends out tax refunds and receives tax payments, and is used for just about everything else having to do with government payments have your social security numbers and bank account information and know just about everything about your finances.   Sound concerning?  It should, it so concerned the senior nonpartisan Treasury official responsible for the system that after his refusal to hand over the “keys” was overruled, he resigned.  Newbie Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was easily confirmed by the Senate because he was supposed to be one of those who would rein in Trump’s worst instincts, then handed Musk’s team the payment system.  That’s the same Bessent who last year said that “tariffs are inflationary,” “hardly a good starting point for a US renaissance.” Over the weekend he yawned while Trump imposed tariffs on goods from our neighbors Canada, Mexico, with some added ones on China something that the WSJ called the “dumbest trade war in history.” So much for bringing down inflation. Cars, fuel, lumber, and yes, avocados, and too many other things to list are going to quickly become more expensive.  How much more? The estimates of the annual out-of-pocket hits are between $850 to several thousand per household, an inconvenience for the wealthy but a major problem for those average Joes living paycheck to paycheck, many of whom delusionally thought Trump was all about reducing inflations and getting the cost of eggs down.  Surprise, surprise, he’s not and never was. Proof of that, he said over the weekend that Americans could feel “some pain,” whatever some means. If you own stock you’ll be hit too, maybe by far more than that $850 plus amount, stock futures are down significantly this morning because trade wars take a hit on corporate earnings.  And as if tariffs and screwing with the Treasury payment system and purging the FBI wasn’t enough devious💩 for one weekend, overnight Musk announced that with Trump’s blessing and only after he got access to all its sensitive top-secret files, he’s shut down USAID. Suppress those yawns, because helping underdeveloped countries fund social programs fosters peace and improves the US’s position worldwide,  which is why such spending is so important because as Generals have been known to say exerting “soft” power is a lot less costly than war.  Overnight Russia’s Medvedev, one of Putin’s close aides, celebrated the move.  Of course he did.

Not So Free Press?  As part of his make nice to Trump mission, Meta’s (Facebook and Instagram) Mark Zuckerberg is sending $25 million to Trump’s “library,” settlement of a lawsuit over the suspension of his Facebook accounts, the accounts that were suspended for fomenting the infamous January 6 attack on the Capitol.  To state the obvious, that’s a payoff from Zuck to Trump’s personal account.  Reports are that CBS owner Paramount Global which is in the process of selling itself to Skydance Media is considering doing the same, sending boatloads of money Trump’s way to settle his frivolous lawsuit over the editing of Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview.  Paramount’s objective, to grease the approval of the sale.  Also, Trump’s White House is in the process of opening its briefing room to “new media” outlets.  By new media, think fringe podcasters and the like.  On the face of it opening up to alternative sources isn’t bad, but what’s not being said out loud is that they plan to squeeze out mainstream media as in anyone who reports news that’s not totally pro-Trump/Elon.  Proof of that, Pete Hegseth’s Department of Defense announced on Friday that it is instituting a new “annual media rotation program.” To that end the Pentagon alerted major media outlets including NBC, the NY Times, Politico, and NPR, which is on Musk’s chopping block, that they must vacate their dedicated workspaces immediately if not sooner.  Right wing conspiracy network OANN is being given NBC’s space and other right wing networks including Breitbart and the NY Post are also being rotated in.

Pushback:  James Dennehy, who runs (until he is fired) the FBI’s NY field office, the largest and most important office at the FBI, is pushing back.  He sent his agents a message saying  “Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy.” So far, he’s refused to provide Trump’s minions at the DOJ with a list of all the agents who’ve worked on any of the Trump and or January 6 investigations.  For the record, the DOJ is making lists of non-political lawyers to fire at the DOJ but mostly without pushback. In response to a lawsuit filed by 23 blue state Attorneys General, a second federal judge, this one from Rhode Island, placed a temporary restraining order on Trump’s planned, but put on hold for now, blocking of federal loans and grants.  Ironically, the Rhode Island Judge’s order only affects the 23 blue states, because no red state AGs participated in the lawsuit. Earlier a federal judge in Washington DC also halted Trump’s plans to freeze funding.  A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked the planned transfer of a transgender woman from a women’s prison to a male’s only facility.  The judge also ordered that the gender affirming drugs that the woman has been taking for her entire adult life be continued.  Three other similar cases on behalf of other transgender prisoners have been filed in Washington DC. It’s likely that a number of Trump and Musk’s other actions are also illegal, including the shutting down of USAID, and the handing over of the Federal payment system but we will have to wait to see how the courts react to lawsuits that are likely to be filed shortly.  However, President Musk and his minions are running fast, and because it’s virtually impossible to stay up with what they are doing, a lot of damage has been done and much of it may be irrevocable. As to Musk having control of the Federal payment system, he’s long wanted to turn X into a payment app.  He was a co-founder of the company that became PayPal, and he has been upfront for some time about expanding X’s business to include payments, following the Chinese WeChat model, so don’t be surprised when he “concludes” with Trump’s concurrence that outsourcing federal payments to X will be “efficient.”

Confirmations: RFK Jr apparently has entered into at least two NDAs over inappropriate behavior but won’t disclose the details of either. That’s concerning but his vaccine conspiracies and his total ignorance of all things related to health care is a much bigger problem. Possibly in response to a WSJ editorial slamming his vaccine lawsuits,  RFK  now says that he won’t keep any proceeds that may come his way but that instead he will send any awards to his son which is kind of like keeping the money, no?  Indiana Republican Senator Todd Young, one of the Republicans who had expressed concern about Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination and who Elon Musk had called a “deep state puppet,” is more comfortable with Tulsi now that he has had a conversation/threat session with Elon..  Nothing but everything to see there. And Meghan McCain, who is married to right wing commentator Ben Domenech let it be known that anyone who dares to vote against Tulsi will be subjected to her ongoing wrath. For the record Tulsi is the godmother of Megan’s child.  Votes for the two and for FBI Director nominee Kash Patel are scheduled to take place this week.   

Fog:  Three more of Hamas’s Israeli hostages were released on Saturday morning.  The three included American/Israeli Keith Siegel, French/Israeli Ofer Calderon, and Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two very young children are either still in captivity or, very sadly, no longer of this world.  Though Hamas’ release charade was heavily orchestrated, this time the hostages were not walked through a dangerous and threatening mob.  In exchange Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners/terrorists.  This weekend’s released Israeli hostages report having spent some of their captivity in cages, were often drugged and have all lost lots of weight though they were given more food in the run up to their release to make it appear otherwise.  British/Israeli citizen Emily Damari, one of the hostages released earlier, reports that she was held in UNWRA facilities during her captivity and refused medical care for her bullet wounds.  The UN and UNWRA are “shocked” to hear that and are “looking” into it.  Today’s Orange is to signify concern for Kfir and Ariel, the little red haired Bibas children.    

#BringThemAllHomeNow