Tuesday, March 04, 2025

The Snapshot

Tuesday, March 4, 2025.  Chump plans to deliver more vile and disgusting words tonight.


Let's start with Lawrence O'Donnell from last night on MSNBC.



Tonight, Convicted Felon Donald Chump will address the nation..  He'll lie as usual, he'll bluster, he'll probably crap himself -- apparently that's happening more often.  But as bad as it will be, it won't be as bad as last Friday's Oval Office.  


Natalie Maines was not elected to any office.


In 2003, ahead of the start of the illegal Iraq War, she made some comments on a stage in England and got attacked and savaged. And some attacking her free speech rights -- Diane Sawyer for one -- argued that it was so offensive because the remarks were made on foreign soil.

We had to listen to that garbage from fools and moderates over and over.


Where were these same people in the last days?


The one area of that performance last Friday that has largely been ignored were his comments about Joe Biden, his attacks on former US President Joe Biden.  


This was not a campaign event.  


This was a US president in the Oval Office attacking a past president with one hateful lie after another.


It was petty and it was shameful and the press corps apparently is going to just remain silent 


It was part of Chump's continued attack on this country and his continue hatred of this country.  


It was also a further demonstration that he is not fit for office.  (Related, see Paul Krugman's analysis of where Ukraine stands now.)


Ahead of tonight's speech, Senator Patty Murray's office released the following:


Senator Murray: “The state of the union is that the President is spitting in the face of the law and he is letting an unelected billionaire fire cancer researchers and wreck federal agencies like the Social Security Administration at will.”

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement on her decision to not attend President Donald J. Trump’s joint Congressional address:

“I will not be attending President Trump’s address to Congress. The state of the union is that the President is spitting in the face of the law and he is letting an unelected billionaire fire cancer researchers and wreck federal agencies like the Social Security Administration at will.

“The state of the union might be great for corrupt billionaires like Elon Musk as Trump guts our foremost consumer protection agency, and even for dictators like Putin, who are cheering on the dismantling of USAID and the betrayal of our allies—but the rest of the country is in a state of emergency as Elon fires the experts responding to bird flu or managing our nuclear weapons stockpile, all while Republicans sprint to tear apart Medicaid and kick families off their health care to pass massive tax giveaways for billionaires.

“Instead, I’m meeting with constituents who have been harmed by this administration’s reckless firings and its illegal and ongoing funding freeze across government. There are farms and small businesses across Washington state and America who are on the verge of collapse because Trump and Elon are illegally blocking federal dollars they are owed. There are thousands of fired federal workers, many of them veterans, who have been carelessly laid off by Trump and Musk with no consideration for the services they provide and how that might harm millions of Americans, whether that’s VA patient safety or the timely disbursement of Social Security checks. I’ll be focused on sharing those stories from Washington state.”

###


Ahead of Chump embarrassing the nation again tonight, Senator Tammy Baldwin's office issued the following:


Baldwin will highlight Republicans’ budget that tees up more than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced that Milwaukee constituent Renee Scherck-Meyer will be her guest at this year’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. Renee has incurable stage 4 breast cancer that has metastasized to her brain, lungs, and liver. Renee relies on Medicaid for her treatment, and without it, she would be forced to ration or forego cancer treatment, hastening her death, or increasing her risk of bankruptcy trying to afford treatment to stay alive.

“Republicans are planning to rip away health care from more than one million Wisconsinites on Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires,” said Senator Baldwin. “While it’s one thing to cite numbers and statistics about those who will be impacted by these cuts to Medicaid, it’s another thing to put a face and name to one of them. That’s why I am honored to bring Renee, a Wisconsinite who is petrified that her Medicaid coverage might be ripped out from under her, as my guest to this year’s State of the Union. As Renee bravely battles cancer, the absolute last thing she should be focused on is whether she’ll have to ration or forego care because of Medicaid cuts. But that’s the reality she – and so many others – are facing. I’m proud to share Renee’s story and fight against cuts to the health care program that so many Wisconsinites rely on and, in Renee’s case, need to stay alive.”

Republicans are planning deep cuts to Medicaid that will jeopardize the coverage of 72 million Americans, or 1 in 5 people living in the United States who use Medicaid. This includes nearly half of all children, 31.5 million, over 8.3 million seniors, and around 15 million people with disabilities. Medicaid also pays for 6 out of 10 residents in nursing homes, with 5.6 million Americans counting on Medicaid for their long-term care bills and Medicaid paying for over half of long-term care in the United States. Severe cuts to Medicaid will also jeopardize rural hospitals and clinics’ ability to keep their doors open. Over 12 million rural Americans rely on Medicaid for health care.

In Wisconsin, over 1.2 million are enrolled in Medicaid. About 1 in 3 children in both Wisconsin’s rural and metro communities have Medicaid coverage. More than 300,000 kids under age 19 are members of BadgerCare Plus or another Wisconsin Medicaid program.

###


And Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued this:


Doug Kowalewski was recently fired from the National Science Foundation amid Trump’s and Musk’s unlawful firings, massive cuts to federal agencies

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced that Doug Kowalewski of Wellesley will be her guest at the 2025 State of the Union. Doug is a former National Science Foundation (NSF) employee who, after 3.5 years at the agency, was fired unexpectedly in Elon Musk’s and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) gutting of the federal workforce. Doug shared his story at Senator Warren’s recent town hall in Framingham, Massachusetts. 

“I'm bringing Doug to force Trump to confront the federal workers he fired – the people who make this country run,” said Senator Warren. “The National Science Foundation is the engine that powers our nation's basic scientific research, and by taking a sledgehammer to this agency, Trump and Musk are gutting our research and innovation pipeline and our local economy in Massachusetts. That isn’t efficient — it’s cruel, short-sighted, and it’s costing American jobs and devastating millions of families.”

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk are firing dedicated civil servants and plotting to replace us with new hires who will make critical science funding decisions with a political agenda, not a scientific one. Millions of Americans who have dedicated their careers to this country are suffering because of unelected billionaires like Elon Musk. I’m in Washington with Senator Warren to fight back against these illegal firings and stand up for hardworking federal workers,” said Doug Kowalewski. 

At Senator Warren’s town hall in Framingham, Doug shared the story of his unexpected firing from the agency along with 167 of his colleagues. At the NSF, Doug was a Program Director for Partnerships and Innovation, helping bring in millions in funding to the federal government. The NSF provides a quarter of federal support for basic research at colleges and universities across the country.

###


Only Alien Musk knows what Chump will say tonight -- Musk knows because he's the one who gives the orders at the White House while Chump trots along beside him obediently.  


Musk? 


Alien Musk is not 'the science guy.'  He's built nothing.  He buys things.  He builds nothing.  Bill Nye?  He's the science guy.  Jennifer Bowers Bahney (RAW STORY) reports:

Weather experts predict that Elon Musk's latest round of government firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including at the National Weather Service, will almost certainly make it more difficult to predict dangerous weather emergencies as quickly as needed.

As the Washington Post reported, "The administration let go of meteorologists, hydrologists and technicians that help inform daily weather forecasts in places including Boston and Boise, Idaho. It fired scientists who build, improve and maintain weather models that form the backbone of weather forecasting around the globe. Staff at offices responsible for warning the public about tsunamis, tornadoes and hurricanes lost their jobs, as did an entire team dedicated to communicating NOAA’s work and science to the public.,"

On CNN Monday, Bill "The Science Guy" Nye claimed that the mass layoffs pointed to "fundamental corruption," as Musk seeks to replace NOAA with his own Starlink system.

"Mr. Musk has this company, Starlink, and he's proposing that NOAA be supplanted by a private company. And just to the young guys that have gone to work on this, that have gone in to the digital services office to destroy or mess up our electronic systems, keep in mind that this is fundamental corruption. This is, it's just corruption when you're trying to monopolize a government service." 


At the urging of Welfare Queen Musk, Chump is destroying our country and our government.  As the world rejects Musk, Chump just grabs him all the tighter and rubs up against him furiously.  Eliot Wilson (CITY AM) reports:

Last week it was reported that Tesla sales in Europe fell by 45 per cent in January compared to the same month in 2024, despite the market for electric vehicles being otherwise buoyant. This has led to inevitable speculation that the European public is turning away from the brand because of the high-profile and controversial involvement of its CEO, Elon Musk, in the provocative antics of Donald Trump’s second presidency: politics is costing him money.

Let us get some technical aspects out of the way which Musk’s supporters will – with justification – offer in mitigation. First, Tesla sales have tended to dip in January over recent years, though not by such a substantial margin. Second, the company’s Model Y compact crossover SUV, its bestselling model, is undergoing a facelift: the new version was launched in China in January for delivery there and in the United States, Canada and Mexico beginning in March, and it has only just become available to order in Europe.

The evidence suggests it is more than this, however. Electrifying.com, an advice site and marketplace for electric vehicles, found that 60 per cent of car buyers have been put off purchasing a Tesla because of Musk’s political views and activities. It is at least a contributory factor.
[. . .]

It is worth noting, however, that Musk’s estimated net worth has fallen by $100bn in the past two months. His wealth, on paper at least, is so great it loses any real meaning: it is comparable to the GDP of Chile or Pakistan. But so substantial a fall demonstrates a relationship which Musk and others on the Trumpian right are eager to point out to their opponents: in business, politics isn’t cost-free.



The reality is that most people are idiots when it comes to money and that's especially true of someone like Alien Musk.  Cher has pointed out that when she and Sonny were coming up in their careers, she'd notice how someone raised with money (Jane Fonda) didn't usually spend a lot while she and Sonny did -- Sonny on cars and Cher on kitchen appliances.  She wouldn't buy, for example, one blender, she'd buy two or three in case one broke on down the line and they had no money left.  They came close many times to having no money left and that's why Cher learned about money.  Some never do.

Most people you see as rich really are not.  They live beyond their means and borrow tons of money -- that's true of Donald Chump today and it was true of Michael Jackson.  If Jackson hadn't tried to go back on tour would his health had held out for a few more years even if he remained addicted to drugs?  Very likely.  But despite the press on those big deals with SONY, he never got SONY money because he couldn't pull it together to deliver the albums outlined in the contract.  He borrowed.  He borrowed some more.  Near bankrupt, he ended up living overseas on charity.  


And still the average American thought he was rich.  He should have been but he put up the money making publishing catalogue for collateral on yet another loan.  He lost ATV.  He lost everything.

Alien Musk wants you to think that he only lost a little money -- especially with all he has.

Reality, when you truly are rich, you don't spend less than $300 million attempting to elect your buddy Chump.  That's your first clue that Alien Musk's fortune is over-estimated.

And cash wealth rarely actually matches estimated wealth.   That's why Chump has all his grifting schemes.  Had he been forced to pay the sum to E Jean Carroll already, he would have been wiped out.  And if he wasn't president now, banks would be closing down loans for him because his financial debt is so deep.

Most of the time, an Alien Musk can skate away for years.  But when the business community starts noticing them losing millions, it does impact how much a bank with an outstanding loan is ready to work with him.

Headlines like REUTER's "Tesla sales decline across Scandinavia as Musk faces test of brand" do not help him.  Nor is helped by the information in a BUSINESS INSIDER report entitled "Growing protests target Tesla showrooms with Mariachi bands, raccoon puppets, and cardboard Cybertrucks."  AP quotes brand consultant Robert Passikoff who explains, "It's marketing 101: Don’t involve yourself in politics. People will stop buying your products."


Moving from perceived wealth to the economy, Dan Ladden-Hall (DAILY BEAST) reports:

An economist warned Monday that the U.S. is “gagging” on uncertainty around the Trump administration’s economic policymaking, and that the situation could get worse.

Mark Zandi, Moody’s Analytics chief economist, gave the dire assessment during an interview with CNN in which he was asked about comments made by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the weekend about the potential impact of the tariffs Trump is threatening to impose on China, Canada, and Mexico.
[. . .]

CNN host Kate Bolduan asked Zandi if he agrees with Bessent’s conclusions that the tariffs—which are scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday—won’t drive up prices for American consumers.

“I think they’re going to raise prices,” Zandi answered. “They’re a tax on American consumers. If you add up all of the tariffs that are now in play, those that have already been imposed—like the 10 percent on China—and those that are being discussed, like the 25 percent on Canadian and Mexican imports… That’ll add about $1,250 to the typical American’s bill over a period of a year.”

Others are sounding alarms as well.  Nuria Salobral (EL PAIS) reports:

Donald Trump has been president of the United States for little more than a month and few things have turned out as expected at the beginning of last November, when he won the election. Investors and citizens had been forewarned of the significance of his electoral promises, but reality is now imposing caution, if not outright concern, in the face of economic measures that have dispelled the initial optimism with which Trump was received. Beyond the tariffs, which have yet to materialize as announced, U.S. economic indicators suggest a rise in inflation and a decline in confidence that is taking hold in Wall Street. The intensity of this trend, and how the powerful U.S. financial market reacts, will determine the measures to be adopted by the White House, experts warn.
US inflation expectations and consumer confidence are not what they were when Trump won the presidential election on November 5. January marked the fifth consecutive month of rising headline inflation, which reached levels not seen since June, and core inflation, which had moderated last month, returned to 3.3%, the level at which it stagnated during the second half of last year. The first month of the year is usually one of price adjustments, in which updates arise that correspond to the previous year and often cause punctual rises in inflation, but experts at CaixaBank Research believe that the data point to the persistence and rebound of some inflationary pressures. “January’s data do not suggest good progress in the disinflationary process. The last mile of inflation will not be an easy road, and although January may be just a stone on the road, this data will only serve to reinforce the caution that the Fed will take ahead of 2025″, they explain. The PCE index, a personal consumption expenditures deflator that is one of the Fed’s favorite inflation indicators, did provide some relief on Friday. It fell in January by one-tenth of a point to 2.5%, as expected, while the underlying rate, excluding fresh food and energy, was 2.6% year-on-year, two-tenths of a point lower than the previous month. Even so, five-year inflation expectations reflect a clear rise in recent months, from 2.3% before Trump’s victory to 2.6% today.

In terms of confidence indicators, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence indicator showed that U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February to the lowest level in eight months, while expectations are below 80 points, a level the firm considers to be a precursor to recession. The University of Michigan’s February consumer confidence gauge, released a week ago, fell to the lowest level in 15 months and showed that inflation expectations have shot upward, largely because of the threat of new import tariffs.




Think the pushback at townhalls hasn't been working?  You'd be wrong.  Phillip Nieto (MEDIAITE) reports:


House Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill criticized Elon Musk’s efforts to target federal workers — with one saying it “seems rash” to “fire people via Twitter.”

CNN anchor Manu Raju noted that the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts and layoffs in the federal workforce have affected people across the political spectrum in terms of Congressional districts.

Raju spoke with Reps. Rich McCormick (R-GA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) — who expressed their concerns about DOGE coming off as “insensitive” due to the mass firings.

RAJU: Give me a sense on your concerns.

MCCORMICK: To be a little bit more compassionate in the way we message this. It matters to people. And I want to make sure that we don’t come across as insensitive. We care about people. That’s why we’re making the cuts.

MALLIOTAKIS: This idea that they’re going to just fire people via Twitter. Elon Musk, that to me seems rash. It seems not appropriate.

RAJU: DOGE specifically, but the cuts, you have any concerns about that?

CISCOMANI: We’re having conversations in our district about all that.



The townhalls are bringing some needed reality into the worlds of detached members of Congress.  Of course, crazy old man Chump sees conspiracy where the rest of the country sees citizens.  Molly Sprayregen (LGBTQ NATION) reports:


Republican members of Congress have been met with hordes of angry constituents as they host town halls across the country, and President Donald Trump is claiming that the “boos” are coming from paid actors.

“Paid ‘troublemakers’ are attending Republican Town Hall Meetings,” Trump claimed on Truth Social. “It is all part of the game for the Democrats, but just like our big LANDSLIDE ELECTION, it’s not going to work for them!” Trump’s 2024 election wasn’t a landslide: He won only 49.78% of the popular vote and beat his opponent by roughly 2.2 million votes, the smallest margin of victory for any president since Richard Nixon’s 1968 election.



Sorry, Chump, but the "paid actors" would be the members of the Cabinet that you had applaud Alien Musk last week.  



Unable to acknowledge that Americans might actually be upset with his agenda, Donald Trump has cooked up a bizarre theory to explain the mass protests taking place in Republican lawmakers’ town halls across the country. But the rationale behind the idea sounds awfully familiar to his presidential election conspiracy.

[. . .]

The venomous protests are a warning sign for the Trump administration that public patience is already wearing thin for his aggressive agenda. Last month, Missouri Representative Mark Alford was practically shut down at his own town hall after he expressed support for Musk’s massive layoff plan. At one point, while suggesting to the crowd that they could vote for someone else in the next election if they didn’t approve of Musk’s appointment, one person shouted back, “We didn’t elect Elon!”

Alford seemed to take a page out of Trump’s own playbook in the immediate aftermath, refusing to chalk up the local frustration to his own inaction. In an interview with CNN, Alford referred to his own constituents as “outside agitators.”


Some BLUESKY comments ahead of tonight's State of the Union Address.

Congress should dress like Zelensky to the State of The Union

— Lizz Winstead she/her (@lizzwinstead.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 10:20 AM

The State of the Union is a live-action test of how much gaslighting, dysfunction, denial, and delusion a democracy can survive.

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— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) March 3, 2025 at 9:44 PM

Don't watch Putin's puppet relentlessly lie tonight — here's the real state of our union www.rawstory.com/raw-investig...

[image or embed]

— Sal Vadacchino 🇨🇦 (@sal-vadacchino.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 7:13 AM

Health Tip : avoid the SOU speech tonight at all costs .It will be a crafted sideshow, replete with a fusillade of fabrication and prevarication, a nauseating reminder of the “ real “ state of the union ; a nation held captive by invasion of RW terrorists supported by onerous oligarchs. A sad tale.

— Ken (@bludrone.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 7:09 AM


 Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Robbin' Felon and Maid Sassy" went up last night.  The following sties updated:












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