Trina's Kitchen: 2024

Saturday, December 07, 2024

Caribbean Red Snapper in the Kitchen

Josie was diagnosed with diabetes last year. I noted the CDC's Tasty Recipes For People With Diabetes and Their Families at some point after she was diagnosed. Because it's a booklet of recipes made free by the CDC, she printed it. But she didn't have time to look at it until last week, the day after Thanksgiving. She recommends the entire book but said she's made Caribbean Red Snapper three times already and loves it:

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
½ cup red pepper,chopped
½ cup carrots, cut into strips
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup dry white wine
¾ pound red snapper fillet
1 large tomato, chopped
2 Tbsp. pitted ripe olives, chopped
2 Tbsp. crumbled low-fat feta or low-fat ricotta cheese

Directions
In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, red pepper, carrots, and garlic.
Sauté mixture for 10 minutes.
Add wine and bring to boil.
Push vegetables to one side of the pan.
Arrange fillets in a single layer in center of skillet.
Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Add tomato and olives.
Top with cheese.
Cover and cook for 3 minutes or until fish is firm but moist.
Transfer fish to serving platter.
Garnish with vegetables and pan juices.
Serving Suggestion: Serve with whole grain rice.

News? Dan De Luce (NBC News) reports:

In the spring of 2018, congressional staffers were anxious ahead of the House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.

A Syrian defector who had risked his life to expose atrocities committed by the Assad regime was due to appear behind closed doors at a private briefing for lawmakers.

No cameras would be present, but congressional aides worried about one committee member, Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who had repeatedly defended the Syrian regime and even met its leader, Bashar al-Assad, in an unannounced trip in 2017.

The aides were concerned Gabbard might leak the name of the defector, who had hidden his identity out of fear of reprisals from the Assad regime. Some worried that she might even reveal his identity to someone associated with the Syrian government, which at that point had killed hundreds of thousands of its own citizens, according to human rights groups.

Both Democratic and Republican aides told the Syrians accompanying the defector, known as “Caesar,” to ensure that he covered his face before Gabbard entered the room — just in case.

“It was Democratic and Republican staffers on the committee coordinating with me to figure out how do we make sure that Tulsi doesn’t take a photograph of Caesar, or learn his real name, or record his voice,” said Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force who helped organize Caesar’s appearance and translated for the session.

Trashy Garbage is not fit to serve. She's a member of a cult, she's a hot head, she leaks to Russia and Syria and apparently WikiLeaks, so why the hell should be the Director of National Intelligence.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Friday:

Friday, December 6, 2024. Implosions for MORNING JOE and THE YOUNG TURKS -- and why we need to not just expect better from the media but to actually demand better from the media.

Each day, it seems, our country loses a few more brain cells and we, as a people, increase our ignorance as a result of garbage like FOX "NEWS" and Bernie Sanders.

The 'independent' US senator sees everything as a joke. Ha-ha-ha, we're not laughing. We're not laughing with your racism which repeatedly conflates "working class" with White, we're not laughing at your decades of disrespect for Black women, we're not laughing at your decades in Congress and never having accomplished anything, we're not laughing at the fact that the Democratic Party leadership punked you in both 2016 and 2020 and you just took it. We're especially not laughing as you run around in circles playing Donald Trump's bitch.

FOX "NEWS" reports:

The progressive Independent senator took to X on Tuesday where he addressed the idea after it was first reported by Fox News.

'Trump has suggested that Canada become the 51st state in our union,' Sanders wrote.

'Does that mean that we can adopt the Canadian health care system and guarantee health care to all, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and spend 50% less per capita on health care?' he went on.

'I'm all for it,' he concluded.

The talk of Canada joining the U.S. was sparked Monday evening when it was reported Trump floated it to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during their meeting at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.

The talks?

Reality for the nut jobs:

A Commonwealth realm is one of a group of sovereign states within the Commonwealth of Nations that have the same person, currently Charles III, as their monarch and head of state. All the realms are independent of each other, although one person, resident in the United Kingdom, acts as monarch of each.^[1]^[2]^[3] Except for the UK, in each of the realms the monarch is represented by a governor-general. The phrase Commonwealth realm is an informal description not used in any law.

As of 2024, there are 15 Commonwealth realms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom. While the Commonwealth of Nations has 56 independent member states, only these 15 have Charles III as head of state. He is also Head of the Commonwealth, a non-constitutional role.

The notion of these states sharing the same person as their monarch traces back to 1867 when Canada became the first dominion, a self-governing nation of the British Empire; others, such as Australia (1901) and New Zealand (1907), followed. With the growing independence of the dominions in the 1920s, the Balfour Declaration of 1926 established the Commonwealth of Nations and that the nations were considered "equal in status ... though united by a common allegiance to the Crown".^[1] The Statute of Westminster 1931 further set the relationship between the realms and the Crown, including a convention that any alteration to the line of succession in any one country must be voluntarily approved by all the others. The modern Commonwealth of Nations was then formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949 when India wanted to become a republic without leaving the Commonwealth; this left seven independent nations sharing the Crown: Australia, Canada, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Since then, new realms have been created through the independence of former colonies and dependencies; Saint Kitts and Nevis is the youngest extant realm, becoming one in 1983. Some realms became republics; Barbados changed from being a realm to a republic in 2021.^[4]

King Charles III is the head of state for Canada. No, Canada isn't becoming a part of the US -- not today, not tomorrow.

Instead of forever playing the court jester (fool), might Bernie try educating the public?

I expect FOX "NEWS" to spew stupidity, even I didn't think Bernie was this bad. I hope he feels a part of the Trump club by shucking and jiving and wasting everyone's time. Old man Sanders, you're life is done and you accomplished nothing.

And now you're taking Trump's stupidity and amplifying it. You're the worst second banana in the world, sitting on the couch next to the 'comedian' host and yucking it up over his one liners.

It's not a good look. Not for a man over 80 and certainly not for someone serving in Congress.

These are serious times and we don't need yucks and jokes from our members of Congress. Especially the ones way too old to be funny.

It's disgusting but, hey, SECULAR TALK's Kyle has enthused "my two presidents!" over another bad Bernie moment where he spoke with Jon Stewart this week.

Really?

Neither Bernie nor Jon is President of the United States, has been President or will be President.

Their interview was an embarrassment.

Hero worship is not going to save the left.

Let's all try to be a little damn smarter.

Right now is where I would normally go off on THE VANGUARD. Instead, we're noting two videos that they did yesterday.

Good for Zac and Gavin. They've actually risen to the occasion.

This is an awful time.

A very close election.

Kamala Harris: 74,938,474 votes (48.4%)

Donald Trump: 77,236,275 votes (49.9%)

That's the official AP count as of this morning. There was no landslide, Satan has no mandate.

But close didn't deliver the presidency and the Dems lost the Senate -- but increased their numbers in the House. Republicans control it but as it stands right now there are 220 Republicans in the House and 215 Democrats.

Satan is both an idiot and a terrorist.

These are not joyful times.

And we need to be concerned.

But too many idiots who think they need to lead us or that we need to watch them or listen to them or read them are the worst of the worst. They're doing nothing.

They're yammering away as though they're Cokie Roberts going on ABC's THIS WEEK to offer a bunch of nonsense -- that's what everyone else is saying already. Conventional wisdom? It may be conventional but it's never been wisdom.

And it's appalling to watch just how little we've learned on the left.

THE VANGUARD gets plenty of criticism from me but applause to them for a real topic that's tremendously needed. We need to be holding people accountable. THE YOUNG TURKS were never our friend. Cenk and Ana need to be called out. That's a real topic.

Our media especially betrayed us this year. Especially this year. And if we seriously do want to think about how to make things better, we need to be demanding much more of the media supposedly serving us. If you're supposedly left and you're writing a column that could easily run in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, you're wasting our time and money's being wasted paying you.

The Supreme Court is probably going to deliver a severe attack on trans rights. They heard the case this week. We've noted many videos here about it -- and no one laid it out better than Danielle Moodie -- that's why we included her video in yesterday's snapshot.

I haven't written about this case here (but did two pieces for community newsletters) and the reason is, I just can't. I don't know if it's a scene from a film I'm recalling or something from news footage that's blurred in my mind long ago. But it's black and white when I dream and it's a child and they identify as female so some hateful thugs -- adults, not peers -- shaves her hair and beats her up. And it was popping up in dreams and I've not been able to sleep and now carry it over to waking moments. This isn't a topic I can address right now myself.

And there are topics that you might not be able to address immediately on your YOUTUBE program or at your website or on your radio program or in your magazine. But that doesn't mean you address nothing. And yet that's what far too many 'left' 'journalists' are doing.

That's not: You can't have fun!!!

Obviously you can. Everyone needs to blow off steam. And Ava and I cover TV for THIRD and while everything since June has been about politics, we will return to just covering entertainment TV at some point.

But we can't afford junk news anymore than we can afford junk science.

That's reality.

And if you're appalled by Ana and Cenk -- and you should be -- or by Mika and Joe -- and you should be -- you should grasp that they got away with it.

It didn't start yesterday or last week. Ana's been trashing transpeople forever.

But more to the point, they've both been doing junk news. It's probably more obvious with Ana because her lies are always very clear. Someone she knows said this, some doctor called her a name, some friend got this . . .

This is nothing but junk. She invents situations and characters to attack people because she can't do the actual work required. So it's a coffee talk with Ana and Cenk that they try to pass off as news.

It's not news.

It is news that Joe and Mika can't stop yelling at whomever is still watching their sorry ass program.

When your audience has tanked in less than a month, you don't scream at whomever's left watching.

And MSNBC bosses don't think that was a good look.

Mika and Joe bowed to Satan and kissed his ring -- finger and anal -- only to be shocked that this kowtowing resulted in a backlash.

Now they're screaming at viewers for calling them out?

Even worse, they compare themselves to THE WASHINGTON POST and THE NEW YORK TIMES.

No.

They are talk show hosts. Joe was a crappy politician before he became a right-wing, crappy TV personality and Mika was never more than a nepo baby. MORNING JOE does not break news. MORNING JOE is not a news program. It's a talk show. On it's best day, it might qualify as a public affairs program but it is not and has never been a news program.

The two are talk show hosts and nothing more.

And what they sell -- as hosts -- is that you can believe them and you can trust them. Then, days after they've called out Satan, they're sneaking off to his lair to bow and scrape before him.

Again, we need to demand better media. (And, again, MSNBC bosses are not pleased with the stunt of Mika and Joe screaming at viewers on air.)

On any given day, there is more than can be covered. On any given day, there are too many people spouting talking points -- and I'm talking on YOUTUBE -- and not doing any actual work.

I know Rahm Emanuel. I've known him for many years.

I have not endorsed him to run the DNC. I don't plan to endorse anyone.

But I don't get the group think there.

Kyle and his club meet up with Krystal and others and determine who we're going to be supporting.

Oh, they did such a great job with Tim Walz, right?

All I wanted was anyone but Josh Shapiro.

Didn't expect we'd get someone who would deliver the worst performance in a vice presidential debate ever.

Rahm is to the right of me. Far to the right.

But the conversation has been nonsense on the left regarding this.

The next head of the DNC, whomever it is, is not going to be shaping policy. They're going to be allocating resources for candidates, they're going to be working on messaging, etc.

Rahm can be an asshole -- I think he'd admit that himself.

But is that a quality we might need in that position? Does he know about races and campaigns?

These are the issues that matter for that position.

If whomever gets it agrees with me on every issue, that's excellent, yea!

But that's not really what the post is.

And we can't have an intelligent discussion about that. Again, I'm not endorsing Rahm, I'm not endorsing anyone. And don't come up at me with Iraq because I will bury you with the actual facts. Rahm was pro-war, yes, but he was also the most effective communicator when Dem leadership became more vocal against the war. That includes a disaster press conference on the topic where Nancy Pelosi couldn't string together a coherent thought and Steny Hoyer seemed asleep. Rahm's the one who jumped in and made the anti-war argument and saved Pelosi and Hoyer a lot of embarrassment. I can provide more examples but, again, I'm not endorsing him or anyone else.

Yesterday, we noted Melanie Campbell from a roundtable that we'll be noting below in a moment. But let's quote her again on the issue of who should head the DNC:

One of the things that's disturbing for me is that you don't see -- right now, we're talking about four people who they're talking about who are up for the position to be the head of the Democratic Party. Why don't we see a woman? Why is there not a Black woman? If we voted 92% for the [presidential] candidate, why are we not even seeing one Black woman in the running or in the discussion? So that's one of the things that I see that we have to address. And that's how we deal with our money and make demands because we do write checks, right? And the other has to do with how we find ways to fund our politics. Until we do that, I think we'll always be in that position.

That's a good observation and a good criticism.

But some of the other puff that's being offered -- especially by those backing one man -- is awful and embarrassing and it dumbs us all down.

It has nothing to do with qualifications. They just happen to like the person -- or to like the image the person has.

How is that any different than what Satan's doing with his Cabinet dreams?

Tulsi's not qualified, Junior's not qualified, Pete's not qualified, go down the list.

But then take a moment to look at how the discussion of who should chair the DNC is going.

I don't really care what they think about this or that. They're not going to be making policy. They are going to be steering the party with regards to races.

Can they do that?

Many thought Howard Dean was going to do a great job.

And he was lousy. It should have been obvious that he would be. What was his experience? A failed run for the presidential nomination and a governor Vermont. How did that spell big vision? How did that spell out experience in leadership?

I don't care who they choose. But I do care about the quality of the conversation. And this shouldn't be -- as Krystal Ball tried to make the 2024 DNC presidential nomination -- about who attended your wedding. This should be about actual experience and qualifications.

Can you deliver in the job?

Do you have experience in government or politics or philanthropy of working well with others?

I don't need to hear "She built a brand on her own!"

Okay, so that person can work well by themselves. Doesn't mean that they have leadership skills.

We need better conversations and we need smarter media.

Zac and Gavin made a few mistakes -- and they know it, they corrected themselves. I'm not bothered by mistakes when people are trying. I am bothered by it when it's coming from people phoning it in.

There is so much at stake over the next four years. We can't be phoning it in. We need to have serious conversations and address actual issues. There's no time for fan boying. Stop worshiping politicians, especially those who have failed to deliver.

Bernie may be the King of Talk but he's the accomplisher of nothing. Letting him jaw bone on camera may save some nursing home patients from having to endure it over breakfast and across the table but he's got nothing to offer as he has demonstrated in all of his years in Congress.

The roundtable.

Tuesday, the African American Policy Forum had a roundtable entitled "Views from the 92%: Black Women Reflect on 2024 Election and Road Ahead." Professor of law Kimberle Crenshaw observed at the start, "Conversations are going forward with us being relegated to a time out space." Black women were largely silenced before the election and this has continued. Now when it came to trashing the first Black woman to seriously run for president, DEMOCRACY NOW!, THE NATION, THE PROGESSIVE, IN THESE TIMES, COMMON DREAMS, etc. Along with Kimberle, the participants included THE WASHINGTON POST's Karen Attiah, iONE DIGITAL's Kirsten West Savali, Black Voters Matter Fund's LaTosha Brown, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Convener of Black Women's Roundtable's Melanie Campbell, the National Council of Negro Women's Shavon Arline-Bradley, the Transformative Justice Coalition, Atlanta Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta's Fran Phillips-Calhoun and Higher Heights' Glynda Carr.

Excerpt:

Kimberle Crenshaw: And one of the things too that has to be elevated is the denigration of DEI as though that is an inherent --

Barbara Arnwine: It's -- it's just a new word -- it's the new N word.

Kimberle Crenshaw: That's what people have been saying.

Barbara Arnwine: It's the new N word. I mean, come on, the ship hits a bridge in the Baltimore Harbor and they start talking about the 'DEI Mayor' Brandon Scott which had nothing to do with the darn ship, nothing to do with the situation.

Kimberle Crenshaw: Or a door flies off a Boeing jet and that has to be because of DEI mechanic. And once again it comes down to the things that we haven't effectively been able to integrate into the mainstream -- the understanding that DEI is not a signifier of someone less qualified. The operation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs are not preferential treatment. They are efforts to ensure that people who are qualified and would otherwise be excluded have the opportunity. Our failure to be able to force a reckoning at the media level and even with some of our allies is what now leaves us as a loaded weapon on the table that is now used against us. So we're going to see DEI being weaponized. We're going to see universities and philanthropy being attacked for having any recognition that the ways that people have access to their institutions need to be broadened and deepened and made more equitable. This is basically the end of Reconstruction 2.0 -- pushing us out and attacking the policies that have made it possible for us to integrate the institutions to which we've been traditionally excluded. So a lot of work. I mean one of the things that we're trying to do here is to list the things that need to be done differently next time. So we need to speak directly to those efforts to deny what our racial identities are in our communities. We need to speak to the efforts in our communities to denigrate DEI and we also need to speak to the way that racism and sexism individually and together create a completely different arena for us when we are candidates. On that note, let me come to you, Kirsten, because one of the principal ways that Kamala Harris was attacked was that she was battered with spurious lies about her past -- used again to suggest that she wasn't qualified, that she 'slept her way' to the top. Now this is something that is gendered -- women often have to deal with it. But it takes on a particularly violent dimension when it comes to Black women -- a dimension that we might be able to use Moya Bailey's term misogynoir to express. So tell us about how what we saw happening we could have predicted was going to happen with respect to these stereotypes against her -- against Black women in general. How this is an expression of misogynoir and why we should have been better prepared to deal with it.

Kirsten West Savali: Thank you, Kim, and thank you again for having me. You know, first, before I go on to the response to your points, I saw a couple of comments about why do we have to see these things now? And I wanted to just frame this a little bit because why is it important to discuss these things and look at these things? It's because we cannot look away because we're dealing with the party that also tries to negotiate often times and bargain with White supremacy, because these are the people that they are trying to tell us that we should link arms with and get votes from. We cannot negotiate, we cannot bargain with that level of misogynoir, with that level of White supremacy and we do need to be able to call it out when we see it -- not only from them but when people in the Democratic Party tell us we need to link arms and capitulate to that level of terrorism. So that to me is the reason why we have to see every single time and not turn away and why we cannot be surprised. It's because the story of this nation has been written. There are no surprises here. They see Black women either as -- again, we talk mammies or jezebel. Right? The oppression, the systemic oppression in this country is mapped across the bodies of Black women. We are a nation rooted in land theft. We are a nation rooted in genocide, rape and slavery. We talk about police violence and the murders that they commit against our communities but also sexual violence is the second highest form of police brutality so that when you have someone -- like a Kamala Harris -- who they cannot contain, who is not their property, who they cannot tell to shut up, who is becoming the face of a system that they think belongs to them, that should help Black women stay at a position of subservience to them, they cannot take it. This is why we have White men -- White men, they think, 'Oh, there on our side.' Sometimes no because White men marry and are friends with and their girlfriends with does not mean that they also don't hate Black women. And so we have someone like a Donald Trump and I can't tell you about how many times he talked in the news about how 'beautiful' she was. They say all the time 'she's beautiful.' He called her like the most beautiful actress he's ever seen. They cannot contain her.

Kimberle Crenshaw: Mmm-hmm.

Kirsten West Savali: And that is the problem. They do not want to see Black women in power. One of the things I noticed -- again we were not surprised about how the popular vote turned out -- but a little bit looking into how White men in this moment were so angry, they refused to play the game. That's a little bit more than just your run of the mill like a Hillary Clinton or like another White man running for office or even a Joe Biden. They could not stand the fact that this Black woman that they cannot sleep with, that they cannot fire, who is more educated, more talented, probably more economically secure than a lot of them, they can't take it. And that's really what it came down to and we saw it all through the very end. There are a lot of reasons why we can say the election turned out the way that she did but I think one of the things we have to do is make sure we call a thing a thing and talk about the entire story that we saw.

The following sites updated:

Thursday, December 05, 2024

Spicy Taco Soup in the Kitchen

Alexandra e-mailed to note Sparks' recipe for Spicy Taco Soup:

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies

2 (14.5 oz) cans pinto beans (drained)

1 (14.5 oz) can black beans (drained)

1 (14.5 oz) can cream-style corn

1 package ranch style dressing mix

1 package taco seasoning

1 cup water (or broth) optional

Directions

Brown beef with onions in a medium soup pot. Drain excess grease. Add remaining ingredients, stir and simmer for 20 minutes. If it seems a little thick you can add some beef broth or water.

This is great with cilantro and a dab of sour cream!

8 servings of about 1 1/2 cups each

News? Please check out Ann's site tonight. She's noting an important issue. Wait, she's already got her post up, "Immigrants." Tulsi Gabbard's in the news so I'm stuck on the Trashy Garbage beat. I asked Ann if she'd mind grabbing the other topic and she kindly agreed to do so. Thank you, Ann. Also remember the recipe for taco soup Ann shared last year "Taco soup and Christmas cranberry cake recipes."

So Sean Craig (Daily Beast) notes:

Tulsi Gabbard, whom Donald Trump plans to nominate as his director of national intelligence, was a faithful consumer of Kremlin-controlled propaganda network RT, three of her former aides told ABC News.

The former Hawaii congresswoman’s foreign policy views, which critics say have increasingly grown soft on Vladimir Putin’s Russia, have led some Democratic lawmakers to question her commitment to the United States.

Rep. Jason Crow said there are “deep questions about where her loyalties lie,” and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, without offering evidence, claimed Gabbard is “likely a Russian asset.” Gabbard has repeatedly denied such claims.

Gabbard’s former aides, however, told ABC that the more plausible explanation for her outlook is her media diet. They said the former Democrat continued regularly reading and sharing articles from RT well after she was advised that it was an unreliable source of information.

The aides emphasized Gabbard also “would consume news from a wide range of outlets, including left-wing and right-wing blogs.”

The State Department has, for nearly a decade, deemed RT a Kremlin mouthpiece and has heightened its scrutiny of the outlet in recent years. In September, officials warned the American public that the outlet’s activities have stretched beyond mere news.

[. . .]

“That Gabbard’s views mirror Russia’s narrative and disinformation themes can but suggest naïveté, collusion, or politically opportunistic sycophancy to echo whatever she believes Trump wants to hear,” Doug London, a retired intelligence officer, told ABC.

She can't be trusted. That cult member needs to get off the world stage and return to living on the commune of her 'guru' Chris -- the man she mistakes for a Messiah. Go away, crazy.

Alex Henderson adds:

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois), a Never Trump conservative who endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the United States' 2024 presidential race, has been an outspoken critic of the nomination.

In a scathing article published by The Bulwark on November 19, Kinzinger warned, "I worry what might happen to untold numbers of American assets if someone as reckless, inexperienced, and outright disloyal as Gabbard were DNI."

Lastly, AP notes, "Nearly 100 former senior U.S. diplomats and intelligence and national security officials have urged Senate leaders to schedule closed-door hearings to allow for a full review of the government's files on former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump's pick to be national intelligence director."

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Thursday:

Thursday, December 5, 2024. Trump and his embarrassing nominees -- including the little bitty boy who needs to hide behind his Mommy.

Satan's set to return to the White House January 20th. He was supposed to be prepared and this was going to be a drama free transition -- or at least as drama free as mincing Queen Bone Spurs could manage. Project 2025 in hand, he was going to show something different. He even agreed to tone down the ridiculous orange foundation that had been his beauty trade mark for a decade or so. But just as the last weeks have demonstrated how old and tired Trump actually is, lessening his orange make up has also emphasized his age, revealing facial skin akin to Mae West in SEXTETTE. He's older -- 78 -- he's fatter -- 319 pounds -- and he's dumber.

And it's really showing.

Zac Anderson (USA TODAY) reports:

Under bipartisan pressure to clear the way for more extensive vetting of his administration picks, President elect-Donald Trump's transition team announced Tuesday they entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice for background checks and security clearances.

Of course he is. The people he says he's going to nominate when he's president are disasters. He won't be sworn in for his term for over another month and the whole world is laughing at him -- un gran idiota in Mexico. This is a way for him to try to spread the blame around.

Already, alleged sex trafficker and rapist Matt Gaetz has been forced to flee. Gong are his dreams of being Attorney General of the United States. There are others in peril but let's zoom in on one that is especially illustrative of just how deeply stupid Donald Trump is. Zachary Folk (THE DAILY BEAST) reported yesterday:

Sheriff Chad Chronister, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, withdrew himself from consideration to lead the federal agency on Tuesday night, instead adopting to remain sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida.

In a statement post on social media on Tuesday, Chronister thanked the president-elect and called the nomination an “honor of a lifetime,” but said he was withdrawing his name from consideration.

Huh? What did this nut job do? His job. Ariano Baio (INDEPENDENT) explains, "President-elect Donald Trump admitted that he un-nominated Chad Chronister from Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) administrator after learning the sheriff publicly scolded and arrested a Florida pastor for hosting large church services during the pandemic." He probably would have been Trump's best nominee.

Notice just how stupid Trump is: He should have known this. His cult wasn't going to go for it. But no one did their damn work -- not fat ass, not any of them. So after his name is released to the press, they learn what they should have known already.

That goes to how stupid Trump is and it goes to how much danger he's already putting the country in. Nut job Tulsi Gabbard? Trashy Garbage, as Trina's dubbed her for years, has held hands and played footsie with Bashar al-Assad. She's a psycho nut job who can't be trusted with national intelligence -- let alone to become the Director of National Intelligence. While she was part of the DNC, it is rumored she leaked the Hillary Clinton data to WIKILEAKS. She didn't get her way in 2016 -- she backed Bernie -- so she leaked data to WIKILEAKS. That's that accusation.

She's going to be in charge of national intelligence. Someone credibly accused of leaking information because she didn't get her way?

Wow. Imagine how many times, as DNI, she might not get her way -- hint, that would be several times on a daily basis. If we're 'lucky,' she'll only be leaking to the press and only about employees and officials who've upset her. If we're not so lucky, she's on the phone with Putin or RT (they love her at RT) leaking national intelligence. Trump doesn't take her advice on bombing Generic Muslim Country That He Hates and she's on the phone to Russia to tell them a strike's about to take place.

How do you trust anyone like that -- anyone credible charged with leaking private documents?

The thing with crazy crooked Tulsi is, she wouldn't be confirmed if a vote were taken today. The cult is just too much. Republican senators are hearing from their constituents that 'this is a Christian nation and she's a member of a cult.' They can't fight for Tulsi. They'd also look like hypocrites because of them have used that very argument ('this is a Christian nation') as an argument for their vile and racist policies. I guess the party that's killing DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) now has a patch of road they can't cross when it comes to backing cult member Tulsi and 'guru' Chris who she owes everything too and has pledged to share everything with since he's the head of her cult. Everything. That would presumably include national security information. Guru Chris must be seeing the prospect of DNI Tulsi as a rainmaker and finally he can have the cult do something other than harass people at airports.

And then there's Pete Hegseth who Trump wants to make Secretary of Defense.

As Lawrence O'Donnell notes in the video above, in an attempt to rescue him, Pete's had to deploy his Mommy to go make the case for him.

A 44 year old man needing to hide behind Mommy.

Community member Sabina made a point in a roundtable we did Monday. She works for city government. There was a total loser -- F G -- that worked with her at the City of Dallas government. He wasn't married. He had multiple children. He was in his late 30s. He lived at home with his parents. (Not with any of his children living there, just FYI.) He blew every check on himself and he rarely came to work. When he did -- doesn't say a lot for the City of Dallas supervisors -- he'd disappear for four hours or more and he'd do that by transferring his calls to his cell phone so people didn't know he'd left. He scanned building plans into the system. And no one apparently ever checked on him. He was constantly just refusing to go to work. After he went two weeks without showing up, his mom came to the job to please with his supervisor not to fire him. He kept his job -- shouldn't have, but he did -- but he lost all respect in the workplace. People who didn't even know him before this went down heard about him as a result of Mommy going to his job to plead and beg with his boss not to fire him, to promise that she'd make sure he showed up for work.

That's really where we are now with Pete Hegseth.

An overgrown, immature boy who is hiding behind Mommy.

"I Won't Back Down" -- Lawrence notes that's the title of the column Pete Hegseth wrote for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL this week. I guess it's only a matter of days before Mommy Hegseth writes the follow up column "I Won't Let My Little Boy Back Down."

Secretary of Defense? He can't even defend himself.

Hiding behind Mommy his whole life. And he can't see the strength of women?

William Vaillancourt (THE DAILY BEAST) notes:

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin praised female members of the armed forces, while his potential replacement, Pete Hegseth–who has said women have no place in combat–tries to shore up confirmation support among Republican senators.

In a West Point address Wednesday, Austin recalled one experience while serving in Iraq in 2003, in which he positioned his command post near the action.

“I told my team, ‘Look, we need to win this fight, so I need to be at the front,’ Austin told the audience. ”‘I know what will happen to me if I’m captured. I have no intention of being captured, and I will fight to the last bullet. But the risks are serious. I am enormously proud of all of you, and that won’t ever change. So, if anyone here thinks that they can’t deploy forward, I fully understand, and no one will ever think any less of you.‘"

Austin continued: “The women and men of that incredible team looked at me, and finally one of the women popped up and said, ‘Sir, what are you talking about?’”

You know what I'm remembering too? In 2009, when then President Barack Obama nominated Tammy Duckworth to a VA position, not only did that Iraq War veteran get confirmed, she did it without ever asking Mommy to go on TV and to visit with senators to try to get her the job she was to weak to fight for herself.

Women are more than strong enough to handle the military.

It appears the weak sister here is Pete Hegseth and maybe that explains the many public episodes of Little Petey being drunk and maybe it explains how, at 44, you are now on marriage number three. That really doesn't indicate the stability required to be Secretary of Defense.

Mike's the main one covering Pete in this community:

Hegseth keeps hitting the fan

James Bond and super villain Pete Hegseth

The Hegseth has hit the fan

Last night, he noted that they're testing the waters to see if Ron DeSantis or Joni Ernst could replace him because that's how embarrassing Pete Hegseth has become.

We addressed Pete's 'qualifications' at length on November 19th:

Let's note Satanic Trump's unqualified nominees. Pete Hegseth is not qualified to be the secretary of any department. You didn't have to go left to find a qualified candidate. There are people serving in leadership of the military that could have been elevated. There are people in the Senate who are Republicans who would be qualified -- Joni Ernst, Mike Rounds, Roger Wicker, Bill Cassidy, etc.

They have the knowledge base. Hegseth doesn't have the knowledge base or the experience. What he does have is a sad and drunken assault. It was seven years ago. It is not the distant past. He was 37 years old. David Kurtz (TPM) notes:

More details emerged over the weekend about the sexual assault claim against Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of defense.

The WaPo was first with extensive new information about the circumstance of the alleged sexual assault, based on (i) a memo it obtained that was provided to the Trump transition team late Wednesday by a friend of the victim; and (ii) a statement from Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore.

The woman later reported the alleged assault to police, but no charges were ever filed:

According to the police statement, the complaint was filed four days after the encounter, and the complainant had bruises to her thigh. The police report itself was not released.

Hegseth settled the woman’s claim for an undisclosed amount, and she signed a nondisclosure agreement.

Trump is standing by Hegseth in the face of the undisclosed settlement of the sexual assault claim.

That's reason enough not to confirm him.

But he's also not qualified for the job.

He shouldn't be confirmed. He shouldn't even be nominated. He's not fit to oversee the Pentagon -- he does not have the background. If the nomination was to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs, I'd have a few problems -- mainly around the issues of female veterans. And I would also question his ability to oversee any department because he just doesn't have that experience -- not in his military service and not in his civilian experience.

This is a huge department that is taxed with many, many duties including ensuring the US military is prepared.

What in Hegseth's past experience argues that he knows a thing about hiring or recruiting, for example?

The last Senate hearing on military readiness was eleven months ago.

At that hearing, US Army Maj Gen Johnny Davis spoke on a number of topics including the statements below:

Today's youth are far more likely to pursue education beyond high school. Currently,

high school seniors and recent graduates account for more than 50% of our annual

contracts. However, they only represent 15-20% of the labor market. We will transform

our prospecting to expand into a greater representation of the labor market and enter

the larger prospect pool. In addition to the high school market, we will target those with

more than a high school diploma, this includes a college degree, some college, or a

technical certification. By FY 2028, it is our goal for one third of new recruits to have

more than a high school diploma. We are growing our analytical capability to incentivize and position our recruiting force, tailor marketing based on segmentation, and place our recruiters in the right place with the right training, products, and tools. Our quarterly Industry Engagement Program allows us to identify new tools to improve operations across the enterprise.

As we transform how the Army prospects for talent, we will continue to innovate and

leverage data analytics, artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) to quickly

identify the right talent and provide tailored messaging to potential talent. We are

expanding our presence on both social media and digital job boards to communicate the

Army's Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Expanding our market is critical to

accomplishing the mission today and in the future.

What does Hegseth know about hiring practices, recruitment and retention? Nothing. Can he address, off the top of his head, the issue of evidence-based learning capability? Does he know what a command wide retention surge is? If so, does he approve or does he think it's a waste of time. Each of the four branches needs to be adequately staffed (the Air Force didn't make the goal in 2023). How does Hegseth plan to address this. Does he have an overall plan or is he going to propose piece meal strategies?

He wants this office why? How does he see himself delivering in this office?

Where does he stand on waivers?

Due to his plethora of body markings, I'd assume he is okay with tattoos. But what about age restrictions -- what his top end for someone serving in combat? On drug tests, what's his wait window on retesting -- 60 days, 90 days, less, more? And why? Drug testing does include testing for alcohol.

ESaR has been a semi-successful recruiting tool for the Navy (Every Sailor a Recruiter). Is that a policy Hegseth agrees with? Why or why not?

The Navy's "Make Your Name" series has been successful in recruiting -- noting women's roles and experiences serving in the Navy. It's a fairly inexpensive recruiting tool and it has been successful. Does he endorse this recruiting tool? If not, why not? If not, is it because he has a limited view of what women can do in the military?

Grasp that -- without him -- women have been moving up in the ranks in the military. Are these women going to hit a glass ceiling if he becomes the Secretary? How is he planning to address these issues? How is going to maintain the US military's competitive edge?

Guess what, those are very basic questions about basic duties and that's before we get beyond workforce issues. I see nothing in his background that demonstrates experience with those type of issues.

Again, we still haven't gotten to other issues that include oversight, combat, military exercises and partnering with the VA to improve the transition from veteran to soldier. On that last one? I don't think he has expertise but I think his experience -- personal -- could compensate for the lack of expertise. I do not feel that way about any other responsibility that he would be tasked with should he become the Secretary of Defense.

The US Army is supposed to be refocusing with an emphasis on LSCO (Large-Scale Combat Operations). That is one of the defined 2025 goals. Hegseth will pursue that how?

These are not minor details. And you can't learn it on the job, not as Secretary of Defense. That means being over the defense of this country so Americans are entitled to expect someone in that role to have actual experience.

Hegseth has none.

Again, this isn't a right-or-left issue. There are Republicans who are qualified for this post. Hegseth is not one of them. Any sitting senator on the Armed Services Committee is qualified for the post.

They would know the issues needing to be addressed before they were even sworn into office.

Hegseth doesn't know the issues, he's never overseen any workforce -- let alone a workforce as large as the Defense Dept -- and he would put military readiness at risk as the whole world had to wait for him to learn on the job and familiarize himself with tasks and concepts that he's honestly not suited for.

--------------

End of excerpt.

Hey, maybe if Trump puts US troops on the ground in another country and the losses mount, Pete's Mommy can go over there and beg for a do-over for her little boy?

Excerpt:

Melanie Campbell: But the reality is that we've got to figure out how we build our political power in this country where we're not beholden to a party or to anyone else. The late Dr Ron Walters always used to talk about how we have to unite. We have to figure out how we fund our politics so that we're not beholden to those who pull the funding streams. The other thing is that we do write checks. There's got to be -- One of the things that's disturbing for me is that you don't see -- right now, we're talking about four people who they're talking about who are up for the position to be the head of the Democratic Party. Why don't we see a woman? Why is there not a Black woman? If we voted 92% for the [presidential] candidate, why are we not even seeing one Black woman in the running or in the discussion? So that's one of the things that I see that we have to address. And that's how we deal with our money and make demands because we do write checks, right? And the other has to do with how we find ways to fund our politics. Until we do that, I think we'll always be in that position.

Kimberle Crenshaw: Yeah. And thank you so much. This is also the-the recognition that we need to support our institutions, our own institutions. There was a lot of fund raising that was done, you know, by Black folks but it didn't necessarily target Black institutions that have greater capacity to reach our own people. So on that note, let me toss it for a moment to our correspondent Dr Kaye who's going to uplift some of the comments in the chat and also talk about Black institutions on Giving Tuesday. So, Kaye, take it away.

Kaye Wise Whitehead: Thank you so much, Kim. Like everybody, all I'm doing is hearting and thumbs up throughout the conversation. The chat has been absolutely on fire. People are really engaging in real moment. I want to lift up some of the things that people have said so far. Shirley said that this reminds us that like VP Harris said we aren't going back. If our detractors think that for one minute that Black women are going to hide under a rock, they've got another thing coming. Loretta followed it up and said look every White pundit denies the persistence of White supremist thinking while they blame Harris' campaign -- a blame the victim strategy they always employ. Suzanna came in and built on that and said that when the media says "working class," they mean White working class. Yes, Suzanna, absolutely. Kim, you talked about you're waiting for someone to call the boycott on Walmart [Walmart donated exclusively to Trump, donated to Project 2025 and announced the end of diversity int heir employment]. In response to that, Hermaine said look I like the idea of voting with our pocketbooks. We need to make sure we circulate all those companies we need to target and not support. And then Bonita, we'll end with her, she shared as Democrats we must demand changes in the Democratic Party from top down. Joy Reid's analysis shows us that our money -- their money -- went to big ad buys not to Black media and not to Black community organizations or organizers. So there has been some amazing comments to our very important and significant and heartfelt conversation that is only happening here thanks to the wonderful work that's being done by AAPF -- the African American Policy Forum -- and all the organizations on this call especially during these challenging times. This is how we build community. The work has never been more urgent. I'm happy we're here on Giving Tuesday, Kim, because what better way to move forward and plant those seeds is supporting all the organizations that we are hearing from tonight as well as supporting AAPF by donating so that we can continue to make good trouble. Alright, Kim, I'll toss it back to you.

Kimberle Crenshaw: Thank you, thank you, Kaye. And at the bottom, we are going to list all of the organizations that were part of this consortium -- research consortium -- that led to many of the talking points and efforts that if folks were serious about reaching Black voters we suggested from our research, this would be the way that they talk to them. So let me come back to Karen to talk a little bit as the sole Black woman op-ed writer at THE WASHINGTON POST. So one thing that stood out looking back at that reel [of coverage of sexist and racist tropes deployed throughout the lead up to the general election] in the face of that, THE WASHINGTON POST's decision not to endorse the first Black woman presidential candidate symbolize at least neutrality with respect to the misogynoir that we saw. Let's remember THE POST endorsed [Barack] Obama, the first Black man who won, Hillary Clinton the first woman. So now we have a Black woman running against Trump and having endorsed his opponents two times in the past, they flinched. So much like Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, we now see billionaires using their influence to effectively disable the fourth estate. As you wrote recently, "The way democracy dies in darkness, is if journalism is left to die in cowardice." So I want to combine two questions to you. First, how do you assess the damage that was done not only to Harris' campaign but also to democracy. And then, more importantly, what do we need to know now about the make up of the media, who's in it, and, more importantly, where are we in it -- so we have a sense of where we need to fight in our future.

Karen Attiah: [Laughing] What do I say without getting fined out? Obviously, the decision to -- and as I wrote in my op-ed -- as I joined my colleagues in the letter sent that we published with other columnists. The decision to effectively block the planned endorsement for Harris came as a media strike. Again, you know, and as I said, and as I said on Twitter, it was a betrayal and a stab in the back for many of us in the course of our jobs who put our reputations and, frankly, our safety and our lives sometimes on the line to be able to stand up to authoritarians. And so understandably with the outrage -- and I've seen it in the comments that there is -- this does not lead to trust in the media. Right? The flip side of this is an uncomfortable truth: It's that when people own the paper, they frankly can do what they want. Right? I think part of this is -- and I think that coupled with Elon Musk and Twitter, I think that back to back in a back to back shocking way perhaps laid bare the realities of raw power and oligarchy in our society. And there's been a reason why, for the longest time, from William Randolph Hearst to the big oligarchs, it's always been thus. It's just laid bare in real time for a lot of people. So what does that mean? That is going to mean -- and frankly, you know, in a city that has for so long been a majority Black city, Washington, DC, it is hard for me to see how the community, the Black community, the residents of Washington, D.C. would ever forget this.

Now let's note BLUESKY.

Danielle says it all about the nonsense attacks on trans people. On BLUESKY, Daniel Villarreal (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

The anti-LGBTQ+ social media account Libs of TikTok, run by Chaya Raichik, has allegedly been banned from the microblogging platform Bluesky.

The account — which has inspired death threats against children, educators, and medical professionals — is just one of several anti-LGBTQ+ accounts that have found themselves unwelcome on Bluesky. Progressive social media users have increasingly flocked to it as an escape from the increasingly right-wing site X, owned by transphobic Republican billionaire Elon Musk.

Yet another reason to abandon Twitter and move to BLUESKY.

The following sites updated: