Trina's Kitchen

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

Air Fryer Broccoli in the Kitchen

Tracey's got three kids. They love the Birds Eye Cauliflower Wings. But that package keeps going up, up, up in costs. So she's introducing them to other vegetables. She's found one that works. She notes this is a recipe "that should make a lot of people happy -- it's vegetable so vegetarians, it's made in the air fryer so good for those cooking with an air fryer, and it can be a side dish or a main dish." She found this recipe for Air Fyrer Broccoli at Evolving Table:

Ingredients

1 pound broccoli florets about 4-5 cups

2 tablespoons oil avocado or olive

1 clove garlic crushed

½ teaspoon salt to taste

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon lemon zest optional

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese divided, optional

Instructions

Preheat your air fryer to 375°F for at least 3 minutes.

Whisk together the oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add the broccoli florets and stir until they are well coated in the sauce. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and toss to coat.

1 pound broccoli florets,2 tablespoons oil,1 clove garlic,½ teaspoon salt,¼ teaspoon black pepper,¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Add the broccoli to the heated air fryer and cook for 4-5 minutes. Shake the basket halfway through cooking.

*For extra crispy edges: Turn up heat to 390°F, give the basket a good toss, and return broccoli to the air fryer for an additional minute.

Serve the broccoli with freshly grated lemon zest and the remaining Parmesan cheese.

I think she's right, that recipe should check off a number of boxes. News? Bobby Kogan (MSNBC) notes:

Last week, House Republicans adopted their budget resolution, the first step toward enacting a bill that would kick millions off Medicaid and cut food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to a meager $1.67 per meal for the typical recipient on average — all while providing an average tax cut of $278,000 to the top 0.1% and adding trillions of dollars to the national deficit.

There are still many steps left in this budgetary process, but House Republicans aim to use a procedure known as budget reconciliation, which allows the Senate to pass legislation with only 51 votes rather than the usual 60 required. In practical terms, this means Republicans can pass this budget without bipartisan support. In political terms, it means Republicans alone own this budget.

Understandably, there has been strong public pushback against a bill that would rip food and health care away from struggling households while enriching the wealthiest. In response, the refrain from GOP supporters of the budget resolution, again and again, has been to pretend that the resolution isn’t cutting Medicaid.

Sure, many House Republicans have said over and over they want to cut Medicaid and SNAP. But they claim they won’t do that. Instead, they say, this resolution merely directs the committees that oversee Medicaid and SNAP to cut spending. Wink, wink.

Put simply, that’s a lie. Not only have House Republicans admitted their intentions, but the simple math of their budget resolution makes cutting these programs necessary.

They just think they can get away with anything. They think they can steal our money and our lands and give the money to Alien Musk and other billionaires. At this rate, there will be no America to live in when Chump finally leaves office.

Vatican News reports:

A Vatican Press Office communiqué on Tuesday evening says Pope Francis has not manifested any episodes of respiratory insufficiency or bronchospasm. He is alert, without fever, and cooperative. As planned, non-invasive mechanical ventilation will be resumed until tomorrow morning. The prognosis remains guarded.

I continue to pray for the Pope and we really need him in the world today. At a time when it is about greed, greed, greed, we really need someone

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Tuesday:

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.

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (THE NEW REPUBLIC) adds:

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.

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

Island-Style Sardines and Rice in the Kitchen

Earlier tonight, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Robbin' Felon and Maid Sassy" went up.

Thank you to Ann for what she wrote in "Politics, Prime Target and The Last Showgirl" and she's right, it is depressing that we're back where we were only much, much worse in terms of our economy. People are struggling to put food on the table in the last month as prices again sky rocketed. Chump will tank our economy.

Corinne got a 2% raise at the start of the year. It's already as though it didn't happen due to the huge increase in groceries. She's desperately searching for recipes that are cheap and inexpensive. One that she found at All Recipes that she likes uses canned sardines:

Ingredients

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 roma (plum) tomato, diced

¼ cup sliced white onion

1 small garlic clove, minced

⅛ teaspoon minced scotch bonnet chile pepper (or habanero chile pepper)

2 (3.75 ounce) cans sardines packed in soybean oil

salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 cups cooked white rice

Directions

Melt coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat; add tomato, onion, garlic, and scotch bonnet chile pepper. Cook and stir tomato mixture until onion is almost translucent, about 5 minutes.

Pour sardines and soybean oil into tomato-onion mixture; mash fish with a fork until incorporated. Cover skillet, reduce to low, and cook until sardines are heated through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve sardine mixture over rice.

News? Kiera Butler (LGBTQ Nation) reports:

Over the weekend, the Vatican announced serious complications in the recovery of Pope Francis. The 88-year-old pontiff, who has been hospitalized for 10 days, is battling pneumonia and on Sunday also appeared to be in the early stages of kidney failure, the Vatican said.

Throughout the world, mainstream Catholic leaders responded to the news with prayers for the pope’s healing. But for some US members of the ascendant Catholic traditionalist movement, Francis’ decline presented an opportunity to criticize him and demand that the Vatican reverse course on what they see as a dangerous tack to the left. Some leaders in those circles took to social media to spread their messages—along with conspiracy theories that accused the ailing pope of being part of a criminal alliance and secretly fathering a child.

[. . .]

On Monday, the Vatican announced that the pope had shown some slight improvement and was working from the hospital. On Sunday, he posted a message on X to his 18.4 million followers: “I urge you to continue your apostolate with joy and to be a sign of a love that embraces everyone,” he wrote. “Do not be afraid to take risks for love!”

I continue to pray for the Pope and I continue to be disgusted by the so-called Catholics rooting for his demise.

This is C.I.'s "The snapshot" for Monday:

Monday, March 3, 2025. Are you a political YOUTUBEr on the left -- if so, do you know what you're doing? Really? And we look at Friday's Oval Office disaster and much more.

Let's start by being smart. If-if-if we only had more platforms!

We don't deserve more platforms if we can't get it right on what we already have.

To pick on THE HUMANIST REPORT for a moment, there are videos Mike did that never got up here even when I agreed with him. Even when I applauded him on something he said forty seconds to two minutes in.

Why?

He was addressing an important topic (not some garbage like 'Jon Stewart needs to be our next nominee for president!') such as a Moms For Bigotry attack on LGBTQ+ rights. But he opened his video with the attack. There was no Mike speaking to the camera saying, "What you are about to see is a disgusting attack on . . ."

It was just open the video with a clip giving the fright wing the mike and letting them spew whatever.

Need an example?

Brian Tyler Cohen, this is not smart.

Brian, are you trying to build support for Joe Rogan? Is that the point? For Elon? For killing Social Security?

"This is Elon Musk finally admitting what we knew all along," declares Brian . . .

One minute and twenty-five seconds into his video, Brian declares, "This is Elon Musk finally admitting what we knew all along."

Is it?

Then why didn't you say that at the top of the video?

Instead, you gave him one minute and 24 seconds to lie before you said a word.

Do you not get that?

Brian, do you really think that you are so important that all people hang on your every word?

Look at your own analyticals.

Keith Edwards, I'm sure, knows that in the first minutes after he goes over what he's going to address, before he makes the plug for his sponsor, is when most people who stream watch. That's no doubt why, he starts his videos that way.

At the one minute points, most viewers of that video above have already tuned out.

Alien Musk is making a bulls**t argument that was more effectively spouted -- and dressed up with pop culture references -- in Neil Howe and William Strauss' 13TH GEN: ABORT, RETRY, IGNORE, FAIL? which was published in 1993. Amidst the movie quotes and song and TV references, you'd find the authors stoking generational resentments as they advocated for the dismantling of Social Security and other programs.

What Brian did was take the most watched section of his video -- a nine minute video -- and allow Alien Musk to have free reign and spout nothing but nonsense.

Does he not grasp that Alien's nonsense has been peddled for decades?

Does he not realize that people are going to turn off his video?

Is it all just a commercial for Alien Musk and/or Joe Rogan?

It was Krystal Ball, after all, and her cohorts who went on Joe Rogan and praised Joe Rogan and told the left he was our friend. They did the same, please, remember, with Mother Tucker Carlson.

I think the 'left' has done enough damage to the left.

"Instead of telling us what people do wrong, how about telling us what we can do instead?"

That's an e-mail to the public e-mail account.

I talk all the time about how we can do better and ways in which we can do better. You may not like what I say but I do that all the time. Last night's "Rubio's political future goes up in smoke as Socialists on the Russian payroll attack Democrats" is about how the DSA f**ked the Democratic Party and the country over with their plan to deny Kamala Harris the presidency.

But if you need something a little more specific, that's one thing you can do. Stop starting your YOUTUBE videos with fright-wing talking points.

In fact, unless your plan is to refute every talking point, why are you even airing right wing talking points?

Alien Musk went on Joe Rogan to attack Social Security?

You don't need to play him. No one is going to be surprised and those who need to find it to believe it know how to use YOUTUBE already.

You presented lies -- via Elon's remarks -- that generations have been raised with.

And you really didn't refute them. You did a big picture refuting but you didn't go through each lie told.

So who got helped by your video?

Again, most people turned off by the first minute and found something else to watch.

What was the point of your video?

To reject Musk's lies? Then you should have said so before you started airing him. Instead you opened with a clip. And it's a clip of an attack that's now been made for decades. But you didn't note that. You just turned it over to Musk.

That's really shoddy work.

Let's note this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

DOGE employees may be sharing classified government information using insecure communications channels.

“These incidents – whether due to maliciousness or incompetence – are inexcusable and raise additional questions about DOGE employees’ access to highly sensitive personal and national security information, and what they are doing with it.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Representative Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, along with every Democratic member of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, including Ranking Member Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Eleanor Homes Norton (D-D.C.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), wrote to Elon Musk, opening an investigation into DOGE.gov following two recent incidents of alarming security failures and reports that DOGE employees shared sensitive government information using insecure communications channels.

DOGE has seized access to highly confidential government and personal information, including tax, Medicare, Social Security, and national security data, which has already led to multiple lawsuits. In just a matter of three weeks, DOGE employees have fed sensitive data into artificial intelligence software, ordered an unauthorized email server to be connected to the government network, and have accidentally been given “write” access to the U.S. Treasury payment system.

“DOGE employees do not appear to fully understand much of the information to which they have been given unfettered access, and given the cavalier and incompetent ways that they have handled this data, these individuals represent a clear threat to national security and the nation’s economy,” continued the lawmakers.

In fact, after the DOGE.gov website launched, two security researchers confirmed that the website was not hosted on secure government servers, making it especially vulnerable to third-party hackers. In particular, details on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which designs and builds U.S. intelligence satellites, were searchable within the database, as well as controlled information about the NRO’s budget and head count. This incident left federal intelligence employees “scrambling” to see if their sensitive information had been accessed.

“These examples of DOGE’s recklessness and inability to accomplish simple tasks – such as establishing a secure database and website housing such critical and confidential government data – combined with its broad access to government data and systems, poses a grave threat to the United States’ economy and national security,” wrote the lawmakers.

The lawmakers are requesting answers from Mr. Musk by March 6, 2025.

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That's an issue people need to be hammering on. It has outraged the public and that's before you even get into Musk's outing American undercover agents. This is not minor. They have access that they shouldn't have and they demonstrate repeatedly that they can't keep the information secure.

Friday?

I had planned to cover other things this morning besides the next topic, however, Mike and Stan both argued it's too important so I'll try to adapt some of Saturday night's post here into the following.

Friday was The Day of Stupidity in the Oval Office.

Convicted Felon Donald Chump raged like a madman. Eyeliner wearing JD Vance tried to act tough and macho but just looked like he had a seven month food baby in his fat belly. A Russian outlet was given access to the Oval Office while REUTERS and AP were denied access. Then the White House tried to lie and say that the journalist from Russia just somehow managed to show up there -- is there no security in the White House? Did DOGE get rid of that as well?

Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following:

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on the meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office:

“Today in the Oval Office, in front of the entire world, Donald Trump and JD Vance chose to berate an American ally and side with a brutal dictator—willfully ignoring the plain fact that it was Putin who launched a deadly and unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation and started this awful war. Putin is the dictator with blood on his hands—and it is appalling, dangerous, and an affront to American values to pretend otherwise. Russian state media is already celebrating Trump’s disgraceful conduct in this meeting—this should be a wake-up call to everyone, and especially Republicans who have gone along with Trump’s acquiescence to Putin for far too long, to separate right from wrong, and truth from fiction.

“As I have said time and again, standing up for a strong and sovereign Ukraine in face of Putin’s aggression is not only the right thing to do, but it is squarely in America’s interest. As a U.S. Senator, I will continue to stand with Ukraine as they chart a path forward to protect their democracy and statehood.”

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Most of all, Friday's event at the Oval Office demonstrated how hard up Marjorie Taylor Greene truly was. Her 'steady' showed up to ask a question: Why won't Zelensky wear a suit?

We've complained about that here in the past, by the way. We wouldn't complain about it now. Not only has John Fetterman's ridiculous Senate garb rendered that point moot, it's equally true that Alien Musk did a press briefing in the Oval Office in an outfit that he appeared to hae borroed from Marlo Thomas' THAT GIRL wardrobe.

So this was the big meet up where the peace plan got shredded -- as planned ahead of time by Chump.

And Marjoie's beau gets a question and he . . . makes it about wardrobe.

Hey, kids, MTG is dating a reporter for WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY!

Can't wait to see him dishing it with the other queens on FASHION POLICE!

This is what she left her husband for? This is what she left the father of her children for?

Video of the event just made clear how unhinged Donald Chump is. The video apparently ends before the nurse sedated the cranky old man and rolled him back to his room. It was appalling and it showed the whole world what a threat Chump is to it. It spat on allies and encouraged everyone to forsake the US for four years. If we're lucky, the country might be able to rebuild bridges with another president. Won't be JD Vance. Miss Sassy gets fatter every day as he eats his failure. And it won't be Marco Rubio. Could have been though. He's in a useless position that takes him nowhere. He's a nothing. A puppet in a corrupt administration.

The one time senator from Florida and the former presidential candidate was shocking on Friday. First, the appearance. He's long been accused of being too 'pretty' for the job of president. He looked flabby and that was his belly and his face. On his face, is it really that bad or were they just not bothering to light him? Second, the stupidity. When ambition outpaces brains, it's just sad and tragic. Marco has the ambition, he just lacks the brains.

This was how you position yourself for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination: You decry what took place and you offer to help try to salvage your relationship or they can take your resignation.

And you're set. It's not going to JD Vance whose everyone's ugly drunken uncle stuck in a nowhere job. But a dramatic moment here -- on an issue so many care about -- could've elevated Marco and made it appear he has actual leadership traits.

Instead, yesterday's cowardly poster boy looks like a bigger loser than ever . Lucy Leeson (INDEPENDENT) reports:

In an interview with CNN, Mr Rubio suggested Mr Zelensky’s behaviour leading up to the clash had been unacceptable.

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

Hey, Marco, what's Donald's ass taste like?

That's really the only question Rubio can answer anymore. He's nothing in the political world. He better be hoping he can line up a big lobbyist job because his career in government ends when Trump's term does -- if not sooner knowing Trump's inability to keep staff.

There are a lot of Republican unhappy with Chump right now. The first member of the administration to break with Chump could set themselves up for a real run at the White House in 2028.

Trump's dead in the water. The polling shows it. He's going nowhere. At some point, he's not even going to be able to threaten Republican members of Congress. They'll blow him off and find their spines as they (a) grow tired of the bully and (b) grasp that Alien Musk can't buy elections no matter how much he funds their opponents. All you have to do is point that out in your campaign: I represent America and my opponent in the primary will represent South African-born Alien Musk.

The press doesn't help Republicans by not knowing -- or noting -- what's going on.

Matt Laslo (RAW STORY) notes:

“The enemy is on the inside,” former Republican Virginia Congressman Denver Riggleman told Raw Story. “There’s so much fear, but we need to overcome that fear now, and the rational, the sane — those who care more about this country than securing mineral rights for their oligarch friends — might be the way we need to go now. This is America. This isn't Russia lite.”

But with Trump’s aides booting Ukranians from the White House grounds after Vance and Trump piled on Zelensky, critics fear the president is being played by propaganda

With tech billionaire and X owner Elon Musk working inside the White House, disinformation is now regularly flowing from the Oval Office, Riggleman said.

“What's happened is that we have such a disinformation and propaganda landscape based on social media and far-right alternative media that there's no way for us to understand how integrated lies are into our policy making,” he said.

What’s so dizzying to Riggleman — an Air Force veteran who went on to be a National Security Agency contractor — is that Ukraine, formally at least, remains an ally, whileRussia is, formally, a foe.

After today’s White House meeting blew up, Riggleman says it’s obvious Trump and Vance are going out of their way to appease the Russian strongman.

“They're specifically trying to make Putin happy. It's interesting that the most powerful country in the world is bending the knee to a bare-chested b— horse rider,” Riggleman said. “This is absolutely unconscionable, and, because of his insanity, he should be removed on the 25th Amendment.”

Yes, Chump did come off insane, unhinged. And that reality is now in everyone's mind -- even the press, even the right-wing. An insane man revealed himself on the world stage And it's going to be tht much harder for people to trust his judgment as a result.

The best favor he can do the country is to continue showing those moments and making it clear how unfit he is for office.

And the fallout has been intense. Charles Switzer (WONDERWALL) notes:

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran and vocal Donald Trump critic, expressed deep disappointment in how the U.S. is handling Russia's war in Ukraine. Following the chaotic Oval Office meeting where Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kinzinger declared that the U.S. is no longer on the side of the "good guys." He criticized Trump's continued praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and warned that America's credibility on the global stage is at risk.Here are four key points from the veteran's critique of Trump and Vance.

He flipped it and for no reason. Which feeds into everything else he's doing -- in the eyes of the public it feeds into everything else.

He doesn't know what he's doing. The time for benefit of the doubt for the middle and the right has ended. He's provided them with the ending and from this moment forward everything he proposes or does is suspect.

Anna Carlson (IRISH STAR) reports:

Vice President JD Vance's ski holiday in Vermont with his family was disrupted by a swarm of protestors following the tense face-off between the United States and Ukraine in the Oval Office.

The protests follow the calamitous meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which spiraled into a fiery confrontation spearheaded by Vance. The meeting began amicably until Vance verbally attacked Zelensky, completely catching him off guard.

[. . .]

The crowd shouted furious insults at the second-in-command. People held signs with harsh words against Vance, such as "Nazi scum" and "go skiing in Russia."

Between this and the town halls, the honeymoon truly is over. Hope JD got to wear his black lace nightie for Chump before the honeymoon ended.

Nnamdi Egwuonwu, Chloe Atkins and Gary Grumbach (NBC NEWS) report:

President Donald Trump's effort to remove the head of a federal watchdog agency was "unlawful," a federal judge in Washington, D.C., said Saturday.

The ruling sidelines Trump’s bid to remove Hampton Dellinger as the head of the Office of Special Counsel and is likely to set up a Supreme Court fight.

“The Special Counsel’s job is to look into and expose unethical or unlawful practices directed at federal civil servants, and to help ensure that whistleblowers who disclose fraud, waste, and abuse on the part of government agencies can do so without suffering reprisals,” Jackson wrote in her Saturday ruling. “It would be ironic, to say the least, and inimical to the ends furthered by the statute if the Special Counsel himself could be chilled in his work by fear of arbitrary or partisan removal.”

Trump fired Dellinger by email last month as his administration carried out widespread cuts to the federal workforce, including the terminations of nearly two dozen other government watchdogs.

Dellinger challenged the termination days later, arguing it violated federal law stating special counsels can only be removed by the president "for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office."

Let's hope the courts hold.

The following sites updated: