Not a single word to help the 33m small businesses in this country. Not from anyone in the administration.

So many buy from China, and don't have alternatives.

So many didn't have the cash to front run the tariffs and buy inventory

(1/3) It needs repeating: in 1994, Ukraine was persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons to Russia in return for the US, the UK, and Russia guaranteeing Ukraine’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity.

Man, you just have to be the biggest rube in the universe to think that Trump is halting Ukraine aid because Zelensky didn't wear a tie or kiss the ring.

The Kyiv Independent Editorial:

"It’s time to say it plainly. America’s leadership has switched sides in the war. The American people have not, and they should speak up."

kyivindependent.com/editorial-a-...

Love to become a subservient vassal state for a dying authoritarian nation with 90% lower GDP than your own, to own the libs

House Republicans just voted to pass a budget that savagely cuts Medicaid and CHIP by up to $880 billion.

An attack on Medicaid and CHIP is a frontal assault on the 80 million Americans who depend on both programs for health care and home care. Disgraceful.

Musk’s DOGE says it has saved $55 billion. Not so fast. A Washington Post analysis found that hundreds of the canceled contracts DOGE listed represent savings of $0 each.

WP analysis of the contract data found that many of the canceled contracts were already complete, meaning canceling them didn’t yield any money back because they had been fully paid out — and indeed, 417 of the deals on DOGE’s list indicate that they saved $0.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

European Parliament member 👇🏽

A Trump truth social post. I've removed a bunch of false claims and replaced them with labels, " False claims removed," "More false claims removed." I've left Trump's claim that Zelenskyy admits half the money the US sent him is missing, labeled, "also false."

This is probably a good time to point out that one big group of IGs Trump fired were busy finding $100s of billions in COVID fraud, enabled by Trump's own incompetence.

Another big group fired were in charge of tracking spending in Ukraine. He literally fired people tracking problems with this $$.

Read the Resignation Letter From Hagan Scotten Hagan Scotten, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote to Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general, refusing to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams.

The lead prosecutor on the Adams investigation - Hagan Scotten - resigns from SDNY.

“I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion [to dismiss Adams charges]. But it was never going to me.”

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

if we had to listen to SPEECHES from A LITTLE GIRL, surely it’s fine to give the richest person in the world free rein to shutter and dismantle US agencies with global impacts and grant him unchecked access to all the confidential information held by the government.

NEW: At least three more DOJ Public Integrity Unit senior officials have resigned after meeting with Emil Bove on the Eric Adams case. Five in Public Integrity overall.

That’s six officials who resigned, triple the number that happened during the Saturday Night Massacre.

🚨 WHOA!!!

Sen. Whitehouse: Mark my words. This Patel guy will come back to haunt you. Every piece of evidence shows that.

Trump Fired Inspectors General Who Identified $183.5 Billion in Waste, Fraud, and Abuse - emptywheel The lawsuit by eight of the Inspectors General Trump fired on his fourth day on the job -- who claim they've identified $183.5 billion in potential waste, fraud, and abuse during their tenure as IGs -...

Trump Fired Inspectors General Who Identified $183.5 Billion in Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

www.emptywheel.net/2025/02/12/t...

Jan. 6 video evidence has 'disappeared' from public access, media coalition says A coalition of news organizations said in a court filing that video exhibits from a Jan. 6 riot case had "disappeared" from a government platform that provided access to evidence used in court.

A coalition of news organizations said in a court filing that video exhibits from a Jan. 6 riot case had "disappeared" from a government platform that provided access to evidence used in court.

At this point I genuinely don't think it's hyperbole to say that Elon Musk is functionally in charge of the US government. Perhaps not in specific policy areas - two bills or one on the hill, policy in the mideast. But certainly functional control of the state apparatus.

in what meaningful way can we say that the constitution is in effect when an unelected and unaccountable billionaire is wielding state power to unilaterally cancel congressional appropriations?

Bondi ends FBI effort to combat foreign influence in U.S. politics The order also curbs prosecutions of Americans who improperly lobby for foreign nations. President Donald Trump says Republicans were unfairly targeted in the past.

"the order disbands the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and pares back enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, despite years of warnings by U.S. intelligence agencies that foreign malign influence operations involving disinformation were a growing and dangerous threat."

The Oligarchs Who Came to Regret Supporting Hitler They helped him in pursuit of profit. Many ended up in concentration camps.

On the German press baron who "calculated that by hollowing out the political center, political consensus would become impossible and the democratic system would collapse"
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

It's hard to overstate how shocking this is. Appoints a Uyghur genocide denier as undersecretary of state, shuts down USAID ahead of its comprehensive plan to counter China, requests an unclassified list of CIA hires that includes the recent Chinese-language hires whose identities are closely held.

"an inexperienced developer...is implementing hidden payment-blocking capabilities in the federal government’s $6 trillion payment system, while the very experts who understand these systems are being pushed out, and the teams responsible for investigating security breaches are being disbanded"

I suspect USAID is first because it's "foreign aid" and fewer Americans will object. But once the precedent is established, expect unilateral dismantling of domestic institutions too

simply repeating the straight reporting of what is happening in the executive branch makes you sound like you have lost your mind.

RONALD REAGAN (1988): We should be aware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends, weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world—all while cynically waving the American flag.

David Frum is a great source of information re Canadian politics.

Venezuelan-Americans who voted for Trump with confident expectation that he cared about ousting Maduro are finding out that…nope. They chose vibes and ignored reality. A tragedy for the Venezuelans trapped by Maduro’s illegal regime.

Gutting the FBI is like waving a red flag at terrorists and other criminals.

Criminal records of Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence Dozens of Jan. 6 defendants who received pardons from President Trump had past criminal convictions for charges including rape, manslaughter, domestic violence and drug trafficking.

“NPR has identified dozens of defendants with prior convictions or pending charges for crimes including rape, sexual abuse of a minor, domestic violence, manslaughter, production of child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking.” www.npr.org/2025/01/30/n...