Author: admin

One of the first things that a cancer does when it invades a body is knock out the immune system. The most effective cancers knock out your white blood cells and the entire apparatus of fighting disease early on.

What we are watching right now is roughly the same. It’s no coincidence that DOGE went after the consumer protection bureau early on.

Of course the federal ethical watchdogs needed to be dismissed. And then there is the large scale firing of any employees in the executive branch who might be capable of raising the alarm when the very cell walls that allow our political organism to function are under attack.

What we are witnessing right now is the political version of a rapid spread of cancer. We may beat it in time, but by then the body may be too weak to ever really recover.

The more I think about it, the more compelling the parallels become. The state of our nation right now is analogous to the state a body that has contracted cancer.

There is much to say on this topic. So I think it would be best to say it in parts.

More tomorrow.

I find it to be a delightful coincidence that two of the individuals who brought us into the modern world were born on the same day — February 12, 1809.

It could be argued that Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln together encompass a transition to our modern way of thinking. The former used science to help us understand and accept that humans are part of the natural world. The latter used politics to help us understand and accept that all humans are entitled to equal opportunity.

How odd that we are suddenly in a time in the U.S. when both science and the right to equal opportunity are being attacked. I wonder what old Charles and Abe would have made of these shenanigans.

I wonder, when we look back at this crazy time in U.S. history, how we will describe it. As far as I know, this is the only time in our nation’s 240 year history when an administration tried to simply dismantle the checks and balances that make this a functioning democracy.

Nixon and FDR both tried to push the bounds of executive privilege. But at the end of the day they both did so within a fundamental understanding that ours is a three-part government, where the power of each part is necessary to balance the power of the other two.

That doesn’t seem to be what is happening here. At least right now this feels like an existential threat to the very structure of our system of government.

Let us hope it doesn’t turn out that way.

This week the current inhabitant of the White House decided to involve the entire world in a trade war with China. Because China exports lots of steel and aluminum, the U.S. has just imposed a 25% tariff on imports of those materials from any country, just to make sure they don’t sneak past our borders through a secondary market.

These days the U.S. only produces about 5% of the world’s steel, but the White House wants to be nice to the Pittsburgh steel lobby, so as not to lose precious Republican votes in Pennsylvania. But as you may already know, an import tariff is essentially a way to tax the U.S. consumer.

Americans can soon expect to pay more for any product or service that requires steel or aluminum, including cars, houses, flights, hand tools, cooking utensils, medical equipment, and a long long list of other items. If you are planning to buy a home or a car, you might want to prepare yourself for sticker shock.

This might have been his plan all along. For the last four years we all thought he was saying “Stop the steal!”. But maybe the man is just bad at spelling.

After all, on the same day, he ordered the U.S. mint to stop producing pennies. And if there’s one thing we know about him, it’s that nothing he says ever makes a lot of cents.

How do you know when somebody is a true patriot? There are times when it gets easier to decide, and this is one of those times.

Just today, the Creep in the White House excoriated the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Eugene Robinson, calling him “incompetent” and demanding he be fired. Mr. Robinson’s crime? He simply wrote a column that pointed out the truth.

Specifically, Robinson wrote that top Republican senators should be ashamed of themselves for simply rolling over for the confirmation of one incompetent Cabinet pick after another, as well as standing by as DOGE demolished our standing around the world.

After the Creep and his fellow travelers are thrown out of office, we will all look around and assess the damage. And we will ask ourselves who rolled over and who fought back.

And Eugene Robinson will be able to say that he stood up for the dignity and principles of the United States of America. This latest attack by you-know-who will be all the proof needed to show that Robinson is a true patriot.

Last night I saw the episode of The Office where Dwight Schrute needs to decide which adorable little kid visiting his hay-themed amusement park should become Hay King. Instead he chooses himself.

It’s one of those embarrassing moments when someone’s narcissism is so overt and unchecked that you want to look away but cannot. The sort of thing that would never actually happen in real life.

Except that it just did.

By coincidence, on the very same day the current inhabitant of the White House was also crowning himself Hay King. In particular, he was offended that he had been criticized some previous award winners at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

So he responded in the most ridiculous way possible: He declared that he would fire the current Kennedy Center board Chair and install himself as Chairman.

Now I can’t get the picture out of my head: This ridiculous figure, sitting on the nearest hay bale, proudly wearing his crown of straw. And never understanding that finding dumb ways to make people fear you is not the same as commanding respect.

I was excited yesterday to realize that it was Rick Astley’s birthday. So I jumped at the chance to celebrate his special day on this blog in the most appropriate way.

I realize that some readers might not have appreciated the gesture, or the way that it may have sort of snuck up on them.

But perhaps the best response in such situations is exactly how you shouldn’t respond when creepy authoritarians are trying to destroy your democracy from within.

Just roll with it.

Today we celebrate a very special birthday.

In a stunning proposal, the U.S. President said Tuesday that the Federal Government will “take over” southern California, “level the site” and rebuild it, after earlier saying Californians living there should leave.

“They instead can occupy some other beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony,” he said at a news conference.

“The Government will take over greater Los Angeles and surrounding regions, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous burnt out houses. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out,” he said.

“Create an economic development somewhere that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” he added. “Do a real job. Do something different.”

“We should go to areas of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this, and build various other domains elsewhere that will ultimately be occupied by the 23 million people currently living in Southern California, ending the death and destruction and frankly, bad luck,” he said. “This can be paid for by tariffs on other countries. It could be one, two, three, four, five, seven, eight, 12. It could be numerous sites, or it could be one large site,” he said.

“But the people will be able to live in comfort and peace and will get sure — we’ll make sure something really spectacular is done. They’re going to have peace. They’re not going to flee their burning houses that were destroyed like these wonderful people have had to endure. The only reason the Californians want to go back is they have no alternative,” he said.

“I do see a long-term ownership position, and I see it bringing great stability to that part of California and maybe the entire West Coast. And everybody I have spoken to, this was not a decision made lightly,” he continued. “Everybody I have spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent in a really magnificent area that nobody would know.”

Asked who would live there, Trump responded, “other people,” saying, “the potential in that beachfront area is unbelievable.”

“History, as you know, just can’t let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don’t want to be cute. I don’t want to be a wise guy. But the Riviera of the West Coast, this could be something that could be so … magnificent,” he said.

Earlier, in the Oval Office, when he also raised the idea, a reporter asked if Californians relocated would have the right to return.

“Why would they want to return?” he responded.

“It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where they wouldn’t want to return,” he said. Why would they want to return? That place has been hell. It’s become one of the most burnt out, toughest places on earth,” he said.

Asked about sending U.S. troops to Los Angeles, Trump appeared open to the possibility.

“As far as California is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that,” Trump said. “We’re going to take over that place and we’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs.”

Asked if his view that the mainly Democratic Californians should be relocated from southern California is a sign that he is against the two-party policy that has traditionally been the policy of the United States, Trump said no.

“It doesn’t mean anything about a two-party or one party or any other party. It means that we want to have, we want to give people a chance at life,” he said. “They have never had a chance at life because the L.A. region has become a hellhole for people living there. It’s been horrible.”

The president argued that his proposal would benefit the U.S. as as a whole and not only Republicans.

“I have to stress, this is not for Republicans,” he said. “This is for everybody in America. Blacks, whites, this is for everybody. You have to learn from history. You can’t keep doing the same mistake over and over again. Gaza is a hellhole right now,” he said.

“I’ve studied it. I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of months, and I’ve seen it from every different angle,” he said. “And it’s a very, very dangerous place to be. And it’s only going to get worse. And I think this is an idea that’s gotten tremendous — and I’m talking about from the highest level of leadership — gotten tremendous praise. And people can live in harmony and peace,” he said, as the extraordinary news conference ended.