Mark Follman

Huckabee jokes to embassy staff about procreating while sheltering
By John Hudson
U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee joked to embassy staff about procreating while sheltering in place on Tuesday in a memo one U.S. official described as “awkward” and “odd.”
The memo, addressed to U.S. diplomats, local staff and family members, said that if the “extended time” with your spouse “results in the birth of your next child in about 9 months, I of course expect that you will want to name the little bugger after me!”
“If it's a girl, Michelle is a nice name too,” he wrote, in a memo reviewed by The Washington Post.
The jocular missive came at a distressing moment for staff

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“Mike Huckabee joked to US embassy staff about procreating while sheltering in place on Tuesday… The memo said that if the “extended time” with your spouse “results in the birth of your next child in about 9 months, I of course expect that you will want to name the little bugger after me!”

Kash Patel gutted FBI counterintelligence team tasked with tracking Iranian threats days before US strikes, sources say | CNN Politics Just days before the United States launched a major military operation in Iran, FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen agents and staff members from a counterintelligence unit tasked with monitoring th...

Unreal. Shudder to think of the price Americans may pay for this stupid, politically driven vulnerability now created by the Trump toadies www.cnn.com/2026/03/03/p...

CIA working to arm Kurdish forces to spark uprising in Iran, sources say | CNN Politics The CIA is working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran and the Trump administration has been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish lea...

What is the point of having a covert action program if don't brag about it to the media?

On substance, what could go wrong?

www.cnn.com/2026/03/03/p...

Trump Weighs Backing Militias to Dislodge Iran’s Regime The president, who hasn’t made a decision, also said “somebody from within” would be the best option to lead the country.

So today Trump has flopped back to regime change as the reason for his war on Iran? www.wsj.com/world/middle...

staggering amount of self-dealing and corruption in Trump 2.0, just the latest example among many…

As Maduro and Khamenei Learned, It’s Harder Than Ever for Leaders to Hide

wait, WHAT?

“Ayatollah Ali Khamenei apparently ignored the evidence that the C.I.A. was tracking him and his top leaders, an operation that President Trump exposed in a social media post eight months ago.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...

In the briefing, Mr. Rubio argued that, no matter if Israel or the United States struck first, Iran would respond with a powerful barrage of weapons against U.S. bases and embassies. It was logical then, Mr. Rubio said, that the United States should act in concert with Israel, since America would be dragged in anyway. And Israel, Mr. Rubio said, was determined to act. This logic sat poorly with some Democrats, who thought the Trump administration was letting Mr. Netanyahu dictate American policy — and was making a circular argument that the United States had to attack because its military buildup could prompt Iran to strike.

just wild that Rubio would frame the US attack on Iran as beholden to what Israel was going to do and/or as inevitable based on circular logic like this… www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...

"A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Sunday showed that just one in four Americans approves of the US attack on Iran, while around half believe Trump uses too much military force. Unless the public is given more answers on exactly what the White House intentions are, those numbers are likely to get worse"

Opinion | Nothing to See Here, Folks

"For a guy who calls himself the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth sure is defensive" www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/o...

Donald Trump was never antiwar MAGA's critique of globalism always left room for conflict.

Trump was never antiwar — that's MAGA fiction. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Unreal… gives zero clarity about launching his war on Iran, but gold drapes for his WH ballroom

Welcome to Wyoming, the Frontier of America’s New Gilded Age

“The minting of dozens of new billionaires occurred in the immediate wake of the 2017 tax cuts championed by Trump, the nation’s biggest tax overhaul since 1986… Overall, the top 1% now control $55.8 trillion in assets—more than the GDP of the US and China combined.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...

Trump Stays Out of Public View After U.S. Launches Military Assault on Iran

a social media video in the middle of the night and then just staying sequestered at his private club… what a way to launch the United States into a war www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

U.S. Strikes in Middle East Use Anthropic, Hours After Trump Ban Within hours of declaring that the federal government will end its use of artificial-intelligence tools made by tech company Anthropic, President Trump launched a major air attack in Iran with the hel...

“Within hours of declaring that the federal government will end its use of artificial-intelligence tools made by tech company Anthropic, President Trump launched a major air attack in Iran with the help of those very same tools.” www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

Stephen Miller in 2024:

21%

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

Read: The ‘Emergency’ Executive Order Proposal That Trump Activists are Rallying Behind On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Trump-aligned activists are pitching the...

Read: The ‘Emergency’ Executive Order Proposal That Trump Activists are Rallying Behind talkingpointsmemo.com/news/read-th...

Opinion | War and Peace Cannot Be Left to One Man — Especially Not This Man

“There is no national consensus around the decision... There isn’t even a Republican consensus…only a mercurial man so detached from reality that he actually reposted “Iran Tried to Interfere in 2020, 2024 Elections to Stop Trump, and Now Faces Renewed War With U.S.” www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/o...

Exclusive | Classified Report Finds Kristi Noem Created Security Vulnerabilities at Airports The Homeland Security secretary’s handling of an issue related to allowing travelers to keep shoes on at checkpoints fits pattern that has alarmed some national-security officials.

“Many officials said Noem’s handling of the report fits a pattern in which she has ignored or played down national-security concerns… her office [also] published photos of a secret government facility, publicizing a site meant to house the president in emergencies” www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

insane:

“FBI tactical agents have ferried her to a resort in Britain before a dinner at Windsor Castle and to an appointment at a hair salon in Nashville”

“Last month, a three-man SWAT team fanned out at a fundraiser where she sang… Afterward, agents drove Ms. Wilkins 135 miles to LAX”

/2

Kash Patel’s Girlfriend Seeks Fame and Fortune, Escorted by an F.B.I. SWAT Team

His frat boy antics at the Olympics were debasing and embarrassing, but this is on a whole different level, just a jaw-dropping abuse of power. Patel should resign or be fired www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Loves Tariffs. His Former Investment Bank Is Taking Bets Against Them A subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, which is run by the sons of US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, is letting clients essentially bet that President Donald Trump’s tariffs will be struck down in cou...

reminder, now that Scotus has struck down the tariffs… www.wired.com/story/cantor...

Full transcript: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers Democratic response to State of the Union address Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered the Democratic response to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday.

Powerful speech from Gov. Abigail Spanberger... 13 minutes well worth watching if you missed www.wbaltv.com/article/span...

Trump continues to attack Supreme Court after tariff ruling The president called the court “incompetent” as he appeared to brace for another legal defeat.

lambasted the majority justices as "unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution"... www.politico.com/news/2026/02... 2/x

Justice Thomas Bemoans Incivility as Security Prompts Cancellation of In-Person Speech

Threats to Supreme Court justices are indeed very troubling... maybe Thomas wants to tell it to the guy who just put fresh targets on some of their backs over the tariff ruling? www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/u...

Online Accusations in Guthrie Abduction Leave One Family ‘Scared Numb’

this is so insane... amateur hour for true crime 'sleuths' in very bad need of cancellation www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

The hypothetical nuclear attack that escalated the Pentagon’s showdown with Anthropic Start-up Anthropic and the U.S. military are careening toward a clash over government use of artificial intelligence — and whether it should be allowed to kill.

“In a recent nuclear war game at King’s College London, many leading language models including versions of ChatGPT, Claude and Google’s Gemini all quickly favored launching warheads.” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

🇺🇸 🏒 Captain hilary knight : “The joke was distasteful & unfortunate— Now I have to sit in front of you and explain someone else's behavior. It's not my responsibility… It’s a great teaching point to really shine light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats.”

Trump’s Push for Election Power Raises Fears He Will ‘Subvert’ Midterms

“Beginning on his first day in office and continuing for the past year in plain view of the American people, Donald Trump has orchestrated and led a sweeping federal government effort to subvert the midterm elections” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

Trump Treasury official to exit after objecting to Minneapolis crackdown John Hurley’s exit follows internal disputes over the White House-backed push to target alleged fraud in the Somali community.

"[Bessent] is under a lot of pressure from the White House to show some interim results,” a Trump ally said. “Trump needs something for 2026 on Somalia." www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...