I just want to acknowledge some things that happened over the last few hours.
Some big deal went down between protesters and ICE agents in Log Angeles yesterday. It may take a couple of days before the whole story is told. See also:
Regarding the Abrego Garcia indictment: Yesterday a top federal prosecutor in Tennessee –where a grand jury indicted Kilmar Abrego Garcia — abruptly resigned. “Schrader’s resignation was prompted by concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons,” according to ABC News.
Yesterday the Supreme Court sided with Trump in two DOGE cases.
Over the objections of the court’s three Democratic appointees, the justices cleared the way for members of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to access the records of the Social Security Administration. And the court temporarily paused an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that would have required DOGE to provide information in a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act. Instead, the justices sent the dispute back to a federal appeals court with instructions for those judges to take another, more skeptical look at the order.
If all our Social Security numbers get leaked, I look forward to the biggest class-action lawsuit of all time.
Medicare is a target as Senate GOP faces megabill math issues. Yeah, they’re admitting they’re looking to cut Medicare to pay for the tax cuts.
Trump is preparing to cancel all the federal funding he can think of for California. “Agencies are being told to start identifying grants the administration can withhold from California,” says CNN.
Somebody ought to explain to Trump that California has the fourth-largest economy in the world. That’s “world,” not “U.S.” It is fourth behind the U.S., China and Germany, I question where the U.S. would rank without California. See Visualizing America’s $29 Trillion Economy by State.
See also Trump to Ax Federal Funding for California as Revenge Tour Escalates at The New Republic. A bit:
California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to CNN’s report in a post on X, with a threat of his own.
“Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it’s time to cut that off, @realDonaldTrump,” wrote Newsom, whose state generates the highest tax revenue of any state in the country.
I’m nor sure how “cutting that off” would work, but if Newsom can figure it out, I hope he does it.
Some idiot Republican congresswoman who is not Marjorie Taylor Greene flew into hysterics after a guest chaplain named Giani Singh led the House in a morning prayer. “It’s deeply troubling that a Muslim was allowed to lead prayer in the House of Representatives this morning. This should have never been allowed to happen,” she wrote somewhere on social media. The problem was that Giani Singh is a Sikh, not a Muslim, and was introduced as such. Second, some Muslims are American citizens and lovely people. I hope if we ever get our country back a Muslim cleric will be asked to be guest chaplain in the House and lead a prayer.
The Republican woman, from Illinois who got upset over a Sikh leading prayer, also said that America was founded as a Christian nation. She apparently never heard of, nor understands the first amendment. From my evangelical daze, I remember someone promoting this idea very broadly to evangelical audiences. The sheep just believe it, not knowing anything different.
So the war against California begins. When I read of the ICE riots in Los Angeles, my mind went into apocalypse mode, imagining that this could be the flashpoint for when things start to get real. I'm reminded of all the reports I read about stuff blowing up in Russia – my take, and I'm not alone, is that there are not a few Russians fighting a fifth column war against their own government. Could be a powderkeg situation in CA.
With the LA wildfires from a few months ago, and the upcoming season of typical natural disasters, to say nothing of all the R+D work done by California's universities. California could be in a world of hurt if Trump makes good on his threat, which is of course the point.
I've read of a Republican named "Hilton", who has a British accent – makes him sound intelligent – who might run for governor. Trump would squeeze California the way he tried to squeeze Canada when they were voting (didn't work). California has been run by Democrats for a long time, and the state has gotten very expensive – and so a Republican has a chance on those grounds. But, like Canada, Californians aren't going to take to Trump's bullying nor his ICE raids. But the election is many months away.
In Las Vegas (I said CA was too expensive), ICE tried to move in on the grounds that it was a "sanctuary city". The Mayor, Governor, and Sheriff's Association protested loudly – we've never been declared a sanctuary city – this is just Stephen Miller / Kristi Noem's goons making stuff up – and so they backed down. The key was the Sheriff's Association – normally a Trump ally. This is how fascists operate – they make laws vague or make sh$t up to try and get away with anything.
I'm a long way from California, but it seems to me Trump is blowing any advantage the GOP might have gained.
I read that Trump's threats to withhold $ from CA are mostly impotent, at least for this year. The upcoming budget is another matter.
Ditto for Newsom's threats to withhold taxes. It mostly amounts to getting millions of CA taxpayers to refuse to pay their taxes.
There are a number of transit projects – including the "high speed" rail line connecting LA to San Francisco that Trump could block or delay. Far from a Japanese bullet or Chinese maglev train – something commensurate to the talent, imagination and money in California – this project's been watered down in so many ways.
As much as I'm for projects like this, it has all the earmarks of a boondoggle. I read that the LA airport will finally be connected to the city's heavily used light rail system – illustrating how politically difficult it is to do even very modest projects, filling a glaring gap that people have seen for decades – much less a massive inter-city rail line with dubious merits.
It is time for my tantrums to escalate. The 3B Bill is resisting lipstick and still oinks and stinks. Mike Johnson's rescue attempt failed due to his leaky boat. Meanwhile the D-I-V-O-R-C-E is getting uglier and uglier. I'm not sure if this solar system is even big enough for the both of us. Time to ice down some long neck Diet Cokes and break out the steel guitar. A new and dark country song is coming upon us. In these dark times we can only ask the big question: What would the Fuhrer Do?
Horror, more horror, we need more horror, there is never enough horror. The scapegoats are to blame for this. We must lock up and deport more of them. California must agree to an unconditional surrender or tantrums will increase. I will hold my breath if I need to. That is what my copy of Mein Kompf made Simple tells me will work. That is what I will do.
So much for getting into his brain. It is risky. What if a person got in and could not get back out? No one deserves a fate like that. I'll never go there again. What a disaster area!
Bernie, I think you're channeling Hunter S Thompson, and that's a compliment!