digby @digby56.bsky.social

Biggest US military buildup since the 2003 Iraq war

Is he drinking? It really seems like it.

This is insane. Trump is naming himself chair for life and obviously is planning to meddle in world affairs long after he's gone as some sort of eminence grise. Why are they insulting this bullshit?

This story is being wildly misrepresented — these were not undercover agents embedded in the crowd. They were part of the multi-agency law enforcement response *after* the Capitol was attacked, as the documents themselves make clear.

What a moment for Clayton Kershaw as he steps off the Dodger Stadium mound. 👏 (Via: @Dodgers)

Reuters reports Pulte’s father and stepmother have done the same thing he attacked Cook for below. (They have also claimed two primary residences, another thing Pulte has attacked Cook for.)

Why would you need F35 stealth fighter jets for a counternarcotics mission? The F35s being sent to Puerto Rico are usually used for large bombing missions like the targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities- a 5th generation supersonic fighter jet known for its lethality. It looks to me like the US military is going to war. 8 US Navy destroyers in the Caribbean near Venezuela is a first.

Interesting fact: David Geier, the researcher Kennedy has hired at HHS (and now at CDC) to reinvestigate the autism/vaccine link? He experimented on autistic children by ... giving them puberty blockers. respectfulinsolence.com/2006/02/23/why…

The Trump administration has canceled the Biden era rule where airlines would have to compensate passengers for flight disruptions.

Disneyland in California is very nice.

Hi everyone, this is a special message. A week ago today after hearing a string of sirens go down our street I got I text from a friend asking if we knew what was going on at our children’s school. The rest of what happened at Annunciation you likely all know by now. We were lucky -- we got to hold our kids' hands, walk them to the car, and go home. If you’d like to help this community through what is next, my wife and I ask that you give to the Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund: ccf-mn.org/support-annunc… And if you’re going to pray, please pray with your feet. Vote for measures that reduce gun violence in all of our communities. Once the bullets are flying there's no good outcome. I would not wish last Wednesday on anyone. Thank you.

Honest question: Are these guys consciously using a Soviet communist propaganda art style to mess with us? Or does having a Soviet communist mindset naturally lead people to this kind of art style?

What????

It's your patriotic duty to be healthy. If you get sick it means you are a traitor.

Look, JD Vance is the guy who married a woman who is a US citizen because of the 14th Amendment. Which he opposes. The guy who endorsed a German political party that considers Vance’s children less than racially pure. So we are dealing with a very strange and fucked up dude. But still, not knowing how WW2 ended is a special level of humiliation.

No shit. That’s why we were disgusted when you went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss his ass. But what’s really indicative of America’s dissent into fascism? The audience and panelists are laughing.

Truly one of the least self-aware statements in recent history from someone on a pro-Trump propaganda network

Exclusive @MSNBC reporting with @MarcSantia4NY: FBI Director Kash Patel is imposing changes aimed at transforming  the bureau into a national police force focused on violent crime, current and former officials tell MSNBC—at the expense, they say, of the FBI’s longstanding role protecting U.S. national security from terrorists, hackers and spies. On a national call Thursday, top FBI official Jodi Cohen informed the heads of more than 50 FBI field offices that Patel plans to equip FBI agents with tasers; that all agents are expected to spend time investigating violent crime; and that the bureau will begin allowing other federal law enforcement agents to join the FBI after an abbreviated training, whether or not they have a college degree, one current and four former officials briefed on the call told MSNBC.  In addition, the FBI plans to cut around 15 percent of its workforce -- 5,800 people from a total of around 37,000, the FBI field office leaders were told, according to the sources. Coming at a time when FBI agents have been ordered to devote time to immigration enforcement, and when dozens have been required to patrol the streets of Washington DC each night as part of the federal takeover of that city’s police force, news of the changes is sparking alarm among current and former senior bureau officials, the sources said. “This is putting the nation in jeopardy--they seem to be making national security threats secondary,” said Rob D’Amico, a retired FBI agent and MSNBC national security and law enforcement contributor. The FBI declined to comment. Patel has made no secret of his desire to steer the FBI more intensively into combatting violent crime.  He often refers to FBI agents as “cops,” – a label many shy away from—and has overseen changes to the FBI web site placing “crush violent crime” above other priorities. Violent street crime historically has been the purview of state and local police, while the FBI has focused first on national security threats such as espionage and terrorism, as well as civil rights, white collar crime and corruption, and organized crime.  After the 9/11 attacks, Director Robert Mueller re-oriented the bureau even further around a primary goal of preventing another terrorist strike on American soil. A 2007 list of FBI priorities put violent crime 8th, after terrorism, espionage, cyber attacks, public corruption, civil rights, transnational criminal organizations, and white collar crime. Violent crime rates nationally are significantly lower than they were in 2007, FBI data shows--but Trump has falsely portrayed crime as out of control in many parts of the country. While some FBI agents are former police officers, many more joined the bureau after earning degrees in law and accounting.  A bachelor’s degree has been required to become an FBI agent. Patel spent years criticizing the FBI as a corrupt tool of what he called a Deep State plot to persecute Trump, and he has overseen a series of unannounced firings of FBI leaders for what are widely seen as political reasons. As news of the changes began to circulate, current and former FBI officials said a purge of FBI leaders is continuing.  The leads of the Detroit and El Paso field offices have been forced out of their jobs without explanation, one current and two former officials said. In Washington DC, some FBI agents are frustrated over being ordered to go out at night on anti-crime foot patrols, something they are not trained for, current and former officials said. FBI agents, for example, are armed with pistols but not equipped with less-than-lethal options, such as tasers.  The plan described by sources to change that is sparking concern, because it suggests leadership believes more FBI agents should be policing the streets like beat cops.

Ffs

All Hail Orange Julius Caesar