Raptorpat

happy birthday @mama!

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ym8yyremeo

Musk proposed "DOGE checks" to rebate 20% of the "savings" and Trump glommed onto it. Mike Johnson shot the idea down, not that he's known for having a spine.

what she's proposing requires legislative approval, I don't know that she has their buy-in yet

^ Trump's guy gave Zelensky a contract (with an hour to sign off) that would entitle the US to like $500b worth of rare mineral resources as repayment for our support, and Zelensky said no. And then Zelensky kind of shot down the bilateral negotiations on Saudi Arabia between the US and Russia. So now Trump big mad and effectively blaming Ukraine for everything. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg1508r8jro

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/18/trump-order-power-independent-agencies-00204798

I just read the order. It isn't attempting to take over the judiciary, it's just unitary executive shit where everything that isn't the courts or congress must flow through his office. So instead of attacking the courts, it's attacking institutions that were intentionally set up to be at arm's reach from politics (the exception cited in the EO is Fed monetary policy).

the tl;dr is tomorrow the judge decides whether to let the DOJ throw the case out, and after that there will be a decision

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/18/hochul-meets-new-york-leaders-decide-adams-fate-00204796

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/19/jair-bolsonaro-charged-alleged-brazil-coup

I stumbled into an account that was just pure antisemitism and apparently twitter stops accepting abuse reports after 15 because it stopped working

this is a real thing

it's enough of a GOP heatsink that they considered changing the law to postpone a special as long as possible I think it's possible in a super low-turnout special election, given the post-Trump era Dem overperformance in specials combined multiplied by anti-incumbent sentiments but it's also possible that the Dem brand is so toxic to Fox people that nothing matters anymore

aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh

she won't do it unilaterally, needs consensus among the state electeds - and that's only if she decides it's worth the political and federal risks. she's trying to lift her popularity out of a hole before 2026 elections, and at a minimum Trump holds congestion pricing and whatever else over her head.

https://nystateofpolitics.com/state-of-politics/new-york/news/2025/02/13/new-york-refuses-louisiana-s-extradition-request-for-doctor-charged-with-prescribing-abortion-pills

He stepped down as leader and has two years left, so he doesn't have to carry water anymore. So where Trump diverges from Reagan Republicanism (global affairs, whatever RFKjr is), he votes no. If he was tie-breaking he probably wouldn't.

He's the only somewhat consistent no vote, even more than Murkowski and Collins.