War is the father of everything awful

  

 War is the father of debt, and of the Navy Seal barbarians in Congress who know how to destroy but not how to build:

... a lethal band of expert killers ... the current generation of ex-SEALs, who mostly came of fighting age during the Gulf War and the war on terror, have eagerly embraced a more combative style of politics — one that favors partisan warfare, legislative brinksmanship and an open embrace of Trump. ... it draws on the combativeness at the heart of what several of the members called the SEALs’ “warrior mentality”: the sense the SEALs will do whatever it takes — short of opposing Trump outright — to achieve their objective. ... they see the objective of their mission as tearing down an irreparably broken system rather than working within that system to pass bills. Judged by this metric, the former SEALs have been diligent foot soldiers in the MAGA movement, especially insofar as they have green-lit the Trump administration’s more aggressive efforts to extend his authority over independent agencies created by Congress and concentrate policy making power in the executive branch. ...

More.

 

Ontario's Doug Ford slaps 25% tariff on electricity bound for Minnesota, Michigan, and New York, threatens total cut-off

 

Ontario slaps 25% tax increase on electricity exports to U.S. in response to Trump’s trade war 

 

... “I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If the United State escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at a news conference in Toronto. “Believe me when I say I do not want to do this. I feel terrible for the American people who didn’t start this trade war. It’s one person who is responsible, it’s President Trump.” ...

Quebec is also considering taking similar measures with electricity exports to the U.S. ...

Ford estimated it will add about CA$100 ($69) a month to the bills of each American affected. “It needs to end. Until these tariffs are off the table, until the threat of tariffs is gone for good, Ontario will not relent,”  Ford said. ...

Ford’s Progressive Conservative government just won reelection by standing up for Canada against Trump. ...

Mad King Ludwig attacks stock markets, won't answer pleas from businesses, Prince Elon's X suffers major cyberattack from unknown actors hehe

 

The king exercises his power, won't remove tariffs, markets sink

 He's reveling in the moment.

 

Last week US Treasury yields for Bills averaged below the Daily Federal Funds Rate of 4.33 after 12 weeks averaging 4.3+change

 

"I'm going to reduce interest rates by crashing the stock market with tariffs"

Bessent says Trump is focused on the 10-year Treasury yield and won't push the Fed to cut rates

 

Andrew Sullivan: The point is the abuse, whether it's Canada's Trudeau, Mexico's Sheinbaum, Germany's Scholz, Ukraine's Zelensky, or the S&P 500

 

Trump doesn't really believe in the tariffs, that they'll do anything one way or another. They are simply the readiest instruments which demonstrate his power, and the daily reminder to all and sundry that he is the king, Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria reincarnate.

 

Trump says he’s not even looking at stock market, tariffs will make U.S. ‘very strong’ 

Trump ‘an agent of chaos and confusion,’ economists say — but a U.S. recession isn’t in the cards yet

So long, Trump bump: Tech stocks wipe out last of post-election gains 

 

Trump rejects pleas from business for more clarity on tariffs: ‘They always say that’ 

 

... Bartiromo interjected: “That’s not clarity.” ...

 

The Bully In His Pulpit

 

... Canada and Mexico are best understood as the baby in the playpen [whom Trump pelted with stones when he was five or six]. Trump himself re-negotiated a trade agreement with both in his first term. Have they violated that deal? No. Have they refused to cooperate on fentanyl and illegal migrants? No. Has Mexico reduced the pressure on the Southern border to almost nothing. Dramatically. Is there anything they can or could do to please Trump? No. The point is the abuse. And like all abusers, Trump constantly shifts what he is demanding, gaslights, threatens, charms, attacks … so that you begin to realize there is nothing you can do except wait for his mood to change. Welcome to monarchy. ...

Andrew Sullivan throws the title of a recent book by Hillarycon Rod Dreher in his face, who is now at the heart of this new authoritarian Trump presidency through his friendship with J. D. Vance

Dreher has succumbed to the abuse of Trump. He lives by lies. He thinks Zelenskyy was the bad guy in the Oval Office.

Sullivan has not succumbed to our "sociopathic president":

 ... What the world saw last Friday was the same, central Trump dynamic: the leader of a smaller democracy that has withstood three years of brutal attack by a far larger dictatorship ... was still publicly humiliated, because he dared air his concern of no security guarantees against Russia. “Just say thank you,” Vance harangued him. “Have you said thank you once?” I cannot recall any visiting head of state who has ever, ever been thrown out of the White House the way Zelensky was. Why? Because he did not submit.

... The challenge for liberals of all stripes is a familiar one in dystopian democracies and rigid dictatorships: Live not by lies. Keep your grip on reality. Avoid the propaganda now washing down on you like torrential rain. Find a refuge, as I did on Wednesday — a place where eternal truths remain, or where free thinking can endure (Spinoza is a role model, which is why the Dishcast discusses him this week).

Avoid hysteria, which Trump wants and exploits. But avoid also being co-opted by a single one of his lies, to see clearly, and to speak simply. Read those you disagree with; get off most social media; choose doubt over certainty; restraint over impulse; resist this authoritarian and irrational moment by refocusing above all on the simple truth, as best as you can, and fighting all those on both extremes trying to annihilate it. ...

Here.

It's a magnificent essay which everyone should read.

Rod Dreher was a Hillarycon in 2016 because of, wait for it, The Madness of King Donald. And so was J. D. Vance.

It's pretty obvious to everyone now that Trump turned off Ukraine's security umbrella in the hope that Putin delivers a strike which kills Zelenskyy

 The Times of London:

 

Tesla has become real unpopular all of a sudden, what could the reason be?

 

 ... Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, more than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities, according to court documents, surveillance photographs, police records and local media reports reviewed by The Washington Post. ... 

More.

The do-nothing US Senate under John Thune has passed 0 of 5 appropriation bills passed by the US House under Mike Johnson who still hasn't passed the other 7 and now they all want to pass Biden's spending instead through FY2025 to please phony Republican Donald Trump

 

Ha Ha Ha under Tom Cole there are "12 subcommittees, each with jurisdiction over an annual appropriations bill" which are completely irrelevant to Elon Musk and DOGE

 

Trump's GOP is Bush's GOP: We have to pass a bill continuing Joe Biden's deficit spending full of waste, fraud, and abuse through September so that Elon Musk can cut it

 

A few GOP senators are not happy with Trump on Ukraine

 Republicans press Trump to resume military, intelligence aid to Ukraine 

 ... Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) ...

... Susan Collins (R-Maine) ...

... One Republican senator who requested anonymity called the threat to deport thousands of Ukrainian refugees excessively “punitive.” ...

... Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said he doesn’t support the decision to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine. “I disagree with it,” he said. ...

 

Republican Bill Huizenga (MI-4) is pissed off by all the people calling his office to complain lol, doubts all the in-coming is legitimate

 Michigan Republican congressman would prefer it if people stopped calling his office

... he wants constituents to stop calling his office, claiming that inquires shared directly on his website would “legitimize” who is from his district. ...

Trump approval continues to sink, drops another point to -9 at Rasmussen

 

When Governor Bill Richardson and Kamala had a baby omg

 

Herrlich schrecklich ha ha

 

Getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government is going to be very difficult

 

Meanwhile in the real world full time employment as a percentage of population fell for a seventh consecutive month in Feb 2025 to 48.88% from 50.26% in July 2024

 That's the worst February reading since 47.51% in Feb 2021.